Katlego Malebana is the GSport4girls School Sport Star of the Year
It has been just three weeks since Tuks introduced and welcomed Katlego Malebana to their senior women’s team for the remainder of the 2024 Hollywoodbets Super League season.
Then, on Thursday, she won the School Star of the Year Award, presented by GSport4Girls.
It has been a remarkable year for Malebana, who took great pride in leading South Africa to the title at the u15 CAF African Schools Football Tournament in Zanzibar, Tanzania.
Following that memorable victory, she told the Mamelodi Sundowns’ media team: “I feel very proud of myself for being able to lead my team to victory in the CAF Championship and for having my first captaincy in the national team, bringing a gold medal and trophy to South Africa. It was a humbling and emotional experience.”
The 15-year-old, who excelled within the Mamelodi Sundowns development programme, scored a crucial penalty after the final against Morocco had finished in a 1-1 draw in regulation time. South Africa went on to win it 5-4 from the spot.
Following the landmark win, she expressed the hope that it would serve as inspiration for others. “This victory shows that with hard work and dedication, we can achieve great things. I hope my success encourages other young girls to pursue their dreams in football,” she said.
Malebana was also a member of the Mamelodi Sundowns team that won the Gauteng Engen Cup, edging out the University of Johannesburg 4-3 in a penalty shootout, following a 0-0 stalemate. She captained both the u15 and u20 Sundowns’ teams and led the u20s to the final of the Pirates Cup earlier this year, where they were defeated by JVW.
The head coach of Tuks, Maude Khumalo was pleased with what she saw from the club’s new player on her debut, which came in a 1-0 victory over Lindelani Ladies, saying that Malebana had displayed good skill.
“The idea is to give her a feeling of what it means to be a part of the team because she is the youngest, and also to look at her understanding of what is happening on the field. I thought if we scored more goals, I wanted to give other players a chance, but I just decided to give her a chance to see if she was going to cope.
“I told her she must be relaxed, she must not panic, and remember the age gap. She is 15 years old…but she has an understanding of the game. It’s more about her understanding the dynamics of the game because she wants to be more settled but the opponents were coming on strong and she came into the game when the tempo was increasing.
“I am happy with her. She has the understanding, the touches, the movement of the ball,” said Khumalo. “I think, going into the next game, she will be more confident than she was today.”
