Refiloe Jane will captain South Africa at the Women’s World Cup having endured an incredible footballing journey in which she was spotted at a local talent competition as a fresh-faced 16-year-old in 2009.
The midfielder was singled out at the Gauteng Future Champions Talent Identification Programme and set on the road to stardom. She later forged a professional career in Australia and most notably Italy.
Jane was the judges’ pick while still a Grade 11 pupil at Emshukantambo Secondary School in Pimville, Soweto.
She believes her success has come from learning fast and the experience she gained while training with top English women's sides Manchester City and Everton, which was part of her prize for winning the competition.
“Winning the Gauteng Future Champions really kick-started my career and gave me so much confidence to believe that I can play for a top local side and even internationally,” she said. “The time I spent with Manchester City and Everton also opened my eyes up to what is required to be a professional player and I made sure that I put into practice what I learned there.
“After joining Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies in late 2010 I put my head down and said to myself that I am going to give everything I have to try and make it into the Banyana Banyana squad. Thankfully, that hard work has paid off.”
She was included in Banyana’s squad for the 2012 Olympic Games, and repeated that feat in 2016 when she traveled to Brazil with the team. She has been central to all of South Africa’s success in recent years – qualifying for two Olympic Games and World Cups, and winning the 2022 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations.
Other players have been and gone, but through it all, Jane has been a constant and a player the team relies on to bring balance to the midfield.
CAPTAIN LEADING BY EXAMPLE
She will also now have the added weight of the captaincy after regular skipper Janine van Wyk was forced out of the 2023 World Cup squad through injury, taking the experience of 183 international caps with her.
Jane joined Sundowns, and later played for Vaal University of Technology (VUT) and later the Tshwane University of Technology (TUT).
She got her big break as a professional football when she was signed to a short-term contract with Australia side Canberra United, heading Down Under with compatriot Rhoda Mulaudzi.
But after impressing at the World Cup in France in 2019, bigger things were on the horizon and she was signed by top Italian club AC Milan.
She spent three seasons with the club before moving to fellow Serie A team Sassuolo, where she featured in 22 of their 26 league games, scoring three goals.
Jane will bring all of that experience with her to the World Cup, where Banyana meet Sweden (23 July), Argentina (28 July) and Italy (2 August), a side she should know inside out.
“Playing in Italy makes it a little easier for me to share the scope with our management, I think 95 per cent of the players playing in the Italy national team play in Italy,” Jane said.
“I think looking at the group we’re in, we’ve got what it takes to progress looking at the qualities that we have in the team and the experience also. The previous tournament was a learning curve for us, so now with being African champs and with the hopes the nation that we carry, we have what it takes to progress.
“The team has improved very well, we have quite a number of players who have gone overseas and are still overseas, I think the previous World Cup played a huge role in the growth of women’s football in our country so with that experience that we have, it will come in handy for us to perform well at the World Cup.”