Letago Madiba

Letago Madiba (born 15 July 1991) is a South African women's football forward, who currently plays as a forward for ALG Spor in the Turkish Women's First Football League.[1] She has been a member of the South Africa women's national team.[2]

Letago Madiba
Personal information
Date of birth (1991-07-15) 15 July 1991
Place of birth Arthur's Seat, Bushbuckridge,
Mpumalanga, South Africa
Position(s) Forward
Club information
Current team
 ALG Spor
Number 9
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2016–2018 TUT Ladies 54 (82)
2019 Minsk 0 (0)
2019– ALG Spor 14 (11)
National team
2014–2019 South Africa
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 1 March 2020

Private life

Letago Madiba was born at Arthur's Seat of Bushbuckridge town in Mpumalanga Province, South Africa on 15 July 1991,[1][3][4] into a family with four elder brothers.[5]

She graduated from Lekete High School in Arthur's Seat, Bushbuckridge,[4] and holds a BTech degree in Sport and Exercise science from Tshwane University of Technology. She is working on her Master's degree in Organisational leadership.[6]

Playing career

Madiba started playing football already at the age of five in the streets of Arthur's Seat.[7] Her brother Karabo, who would become a professional footballer, taught her the basics and skills. From a young age, she played with boys in the community, and became the only female football player in school.[5]

Club

In her early career, she was a defender.[8]She played for the South African Tshwane University of Technology's team TUT Ladies in the SAFA Sasol Women's League.[7][9] She capped for South Africa 54 times in the 2016–17 and 2017–18 seasons,[7][9] scoring a total of 82 goals. In addition, she netted 31 goals in various tournaments for the university team. Overall, she appeared in 75 games in the Sasol League, and scored a total of 103 goals, [7] winning the championship in 2017–18. She won also the University Sports South Africa (USSA) Football National Club Championship and the ABSA Women’s Championship.[3][4]

In 2018, although she decided to retire from football to seek permanent employment, her team coach Tebogo Mokae convinced her to finish the season.[5][10] In February 2019, she got a chance to go to Spain, where she trained for a month with two clubs, which helped renew her confidence in a football career.[10]

The assistant coach of TUT Ladies, Nadia Kroll, offered her a contract to play in Belarus. Madiba had to decide within three days, as the Belarusian club was in preparation for a major European tournament. Her childhood dream of playing overseas came through when she took that chance.[10] In July 2019, she moved to Belarus, and joined ZFK Minsk two weeks before their participation at the 2019–20 UEFA Women's Champions League qualifying round.[2][7][11] She played in two of the three qualification matches, and scored one goal.[3][12][13][14]

Arranged by her manager Kroll, she went to Turkey in October 2019, and signed a contract to play as a forward with ALG Spor,[3][7][15][16] a club in Gaziantep, who had just been promoted to the Women's First League at the end of the 2017–18 season.[5] She scored eleven goals in 14 matches of the 2019-20 Turkish Women's First Football League season, [1] before it was discontinued due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Turkey.[6][17] Her team was entitled to represent Turkey at the 2020–21 UEFA Women's Champions League, as the top-ranking team, when the league was stopped.[5][17]

International

In April 2014, Madiba was admitted to the South Africa women's national team, nicknamed "Banyana Banyana", to play in a friendly match against Zimbabwe,[8] During a national team camp just before the 2014 African Women's Championship, she tore her ACL, LCL, and meniscus. She underwent two surgeries, knocking her out of action for 14 months.[5][6][7]

She was called up to the national team for the 2017 COSAFA Women's Championship - Group C matches, [18] but only played in a handful of matches.[2][7][16]

References
  1. "Oyuncular - Futbolcular: Letago Madibaa" (in Turkish). Türkiye Futbol Federasyonu. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  2. Ahmadu, Samuel (23 July 2019). "Rachel Sebati and Letago Madiba join Belarusian champions Minsk". Goal. Retrieved 25 July 2020.
  3. "South African Duo Flying the Flag High in Europe". G Sport. 28 December 2019. Retrieved 26 July 2020.
  4. "Personal Profile Letago Madiba". Varsity Sports SA. 16 August 2013. Retrieved 26 July 2020.
  5. Abrahams, Celine (15 July 2020). "Letago Madiba Continues to Dominate on the European Stage". G Sport. Retrieved 27 July 2020.
  6. "Mpumalanga soccer star shines bright in Europe". Lowvelder. 25 July 2020. Retrieved 26 July 2020.
  7. Mokhesi, Tokelo Martin (3 February 2020). "SA duo Madiba and Sebati sets Turkey alight". FARPost. Retrieved 26 July 2020.
  8. "South Africa: Letago Madiba Ready to Shine for Sasol Banyana Banyana". AllAfrica. 11 April 2014. Retrieved 27 July 2020.
  9. "#TuksFootball: Tuks go down to TUT by 4-2". Tuks Football. 15 September 2016. Retrieved 26 July 2020.
  10. Mkhonza, Mthokozisi (24 July 2019). "UEFA:Here Comes SA^s Soccer Stars". Daily Sun. Retrieved 27 July 2020.
  11. "More SA women footballers plying their trade abroad". SABC. 19 March 2020. Retrieved 26 July 2020.
  12. "ЖФК "Мінськ" прибув до Харкова(+ВІДЕО)". fczh1.com (in Belarusian). 5 August 2019. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  13. "Qualifying round - Group 4 - Minsk (BLR) 12-0 Bettembourg (LUX)". UEFA. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  14. "Qualifying round - Group 4 - Minsk (BLR) 2-1 Split (CRO)". UEFA. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  15. "ALG Spor'dan rakiplerine gözdağı". TRT Spor (in Turkish). 20 September 2019. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  16. "Banyana star delighted with Spain move". COSAFA. 14 July 2020. Retrieved 26 July 2020.
  17. "2019-2020 Sezonu Kadın Ligleri Yönetim Kurulu Kararı" (in Turkish). Türkiye Futbol Federasyonu. 13 July 2020. Retrieved 25 July 2020.
  18. "TUT ladies to defend their title". Varsity Sports SA. 6 September 2017. Retrieved 26 July 2020.
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