Thalea Smidt (born 27 December 1997) is a South African professional

soccer player A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who plays as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

for

SAFA Women's League The SAFA Women's League, known as Hollywoodbets Super League for sponsorship reasons, is the top flight of women's association football in South Africa. The competition is run by the South African Football Association. The league comprises 16 ( ...

side Tuks Ladies FC and the South Africa women's national team.

Personal life

In 2018, she graduated from the

University of Pretoria The University of Pretoria (, ) is a multi-campus public university, public research university in Pretoria, the administrative and ''de facto'' capital of South Africa. The university was established in 1908 as the Pretoria campus of the Johan ...

with a BSc Honours in Plant Sciences.

Club career

Tuks Ladies

Smidt studied at the University of Pretoria and captained the Tuks Ladies FC side.

Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies

In 2021 she joined

side

Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies F.C. is a women's professional soccer club based in Pretoria, South Africa. The team competes in the SAFA Women's League, the top tier women's football league in South Africa. They are the most successful women's team ...

. She was part of the treble winning team. The team won the inaugural

COSAFA Women's Champions League The CAF Women's Champions League COSAFA Qualifiers, branded as the COSAFA Women's Champions League, is an annual qualification tournament for the CAF Women's Champions League organized by COSAFA for its nations. Established in 2021, it has been ...

CAF Women's Champions League The CAF Women's Champions League (; ), sometimes abbreviated as ''CAF WCL'', is an annual African women's association football club competition launched on 12 September 2020 and organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF). It is ...

, and Hollywoodbets Super League. They were runner's up for the 2022 COSAFA Women's Champions League and the

2022 CAF Women's Champions League The 2022 CAF Women's Champions League was the 2nd edition of the annual African women's association football football team, club tournament organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) held in Morocco from 30 October to 13 November 20 ...

. They finished off the season by winning the Hollywoodbets Super League in November 2022.

Tuks Ladies

On 15 April 2023, she rejoined Tuks Ladies FC on loan for the remainder of the 2023 season.

International career

Smidt competed for the

South Africa women's national soccer team The South Africa women's national football team represents South Africa in women's international soccer and is run by the South African Football Association, the governing body for Soccer in South Africa. Nicknamed Banyana Banyana (The Girls in ...

at the

2022 Women's Africa Cup of Nations The 2022 Women's Africa Cup of Nations (, ), (also referred to as WAFCON 2022) officially known as the 2022 TotalEnergies Women's Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship purposes, was the 14th edition of the biennial African international women's ...

where they won their maiden continental title. She was also part of the team when they took on

Tanzania Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It is bordered by Uganda to the northwest; Kenya to the northeast; the Indian Ocean to the east; Mozambique and Malawi to t ...

in the third round 2024 Olympic qualifiers.

Honours

Club Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies *

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

runner-up:

runner-up

South Africa *

Women's Africa Cup of Nations The Women's Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON), known for sponsorship purposes as the TotalEnergies Women's Africa Cup of Nations and formerly the African Women's Championship, is a biennial international women's football tournament organized by ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smidt, Thalea 1997 births Living people South African women's soccer players South Africa women's international soccer players Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies F.C. players Women's association football midfielders University of Pretoria alumni SAFA Women's League players 21st-century South African sportswomen 2022 Women's Africa Cup of Nations players