Janine van Wyk (born 17 April 1987) 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 ...

who plays as a defender for her own club in South Africa JVW and

captains Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

the South Africa women's national team. She is the highest capped player in South Africa with 180 appearances, and highest capped female in CAF. She has played for

Houston Dash The Houston Dash is a professional women's soccer team based in Houston, Texas. It joined the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) in the 2014 season, and is affiliated with the MLS team Houston Dynamo FC. History Establishment On November ...

in the

National Women's Soccer League The National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) is a professional women's soccer league at the top of the United States league system. It is owned by the teams and, until 2020, was under a management contract with the United States Soccer Federatio ...

, becoming the first South African player signed to this league. On 18 September 2018, van Wyk earned her 150th cap for the

South Africa women's national soccer team The South Africa women's national soccer team, nicknamed ''Banyana Banyana'' (The Girls), is the national team of South Africa and is controlled by the South African Football Association. Their first official match was held on 30 May 1993 aga ...

, she holds the record as the most capped South African football player of any gender.

Early life and education

Van Wyk was born in

Alberton, Gauteng Alberton is a city situated on the southern part of the East Rand of the Gauteng Province in South Africa and is situated very close to the major urban centre of Johannesburg. Alberton is described as a typical suburban community, one which is pr ...

to Dannie van Wyk. She grew up in

Germiston Germiston, also known as kwaDukathole, is a small city in the East Rand region of Gauteng, South Africa, administratively forming part of the City of Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality since the latter's establishment in 2000. It functions as ...

and she started playing soccer at the age of 6. She attended Hoërskool Alberton, an

Afrikaans Afrikaans (, ) is a West Germanic language that evolved in the Dutch Cape Colony from the Dutch vernacular of Holland proper (i.e., the Hollandic dialect) used by Dutch, French, and German settlers and their enslaved people. Afrikaans gra ...

medium school that did not play soccer. Her first girls team was Springs Home Sweepers based in

KwaThema KwaThema is a township south-west of Springs in the district of Ekurhuleni, Gauteng, South Africa. It was established in 1951 when Africans were forcibly removed from Payneville because it was considered by the apartheid government to be too clos ...

. She came out as a lesbian aged 15.

Career

Club career

A few years later, Van Wyk joined the Moroka Swallows and later, the Palace Super Falcons from

Thembisa Thembisa, formerly Tembisa (Dindela), is a large township situated to the north of Kempton Park on the East Rand, Gauteng, South Africa. It was established in 1957 when black people were resettled from Alexandra and other areas in Edenvale, Ke ...

, where she was part of a team that won three consecutive league titles. Van Wyk called her time with the Super Falcons "memorable", and said that in the three league victories they were "untouchable". She then founded her own club, named JVW F.C. She previously served as player-coach for the club. Fans of football have nicknamed her "

Booth Booth may refer to: People * Booth (surname) * Booth (given name) Fictional characters * August Wayne Booth, from the television series ''Once Upon A Time'' *Cliff Booth, a supporting character of the 2019 film ''Once Upon a Time in Hollywood'' ...

". On 21 December 2016, she signed with the

in the

. In 2017 she made 17 appearances for the Dash. Van Wyk returned to Houston for the

2018 NWSL season The 2018 National Women's Soccer League season was the sixth season of the National Women's Soccer League, the top division of women's soccer in the United States. Including the NWSL's two professional predecessors, Women's Professional Soccer (200 ...

, she appeared in 20 games. On 1 October 2018 van Wyk was waived by the

and placed on re-entry waivers but her rights were not claimed by another team. In August 2019, she signed for Danish club Fortuna Hjorring. After a knee injury during a training session and returning to South Africa, on 14 January 2020, van Wyk announced that she and Fortuna Hjorring had agreed to terminate her contract so she could focus on rehabilitation. Van Wyk returned to Europe in July 2020 when she signed for

Scottish Women's Premier League The Scottish Women's Premier League (SWPL) is the highest level of league competition in women's football in Scotland. Its two divisions are SWPL 1 and SWPL 2. The league was formed when the Premier Division of the Scottish Women's Football League ...

(SWPL) club Glasgow City. After making one appearance in a

UEFA Women's Champions League The UEFA Women's Champions League, previously called the UEFA Women's Cup (2001–2009), is a European women's association football competition. It involves the top club teams from countries affiliated with the European governing body UEFA. The ...

match against

VfL Wolfsburg Verein für Leibesübungen Wolfsburg e. V., commonly known as VfL Wolfsburg () or Wolfsburg, is a German professional sports club based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony. The club grew out of a multi-sports club for Volkswagen workers in the city of W ...

, her SWPL debut was delayed for several months due to a combination of a knee injury and the suspension of the league during the COVID-19 pandemic.

International career

Van Wyk made her national team debut in 2005 against

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

in the

African Women's Championship The Women's Africa Cup of Nations, also called the TotalEnergies Women's Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons and abbreviated to WAFCON, is an international women's football competition held every two years and sanctioned by the Confe ...

. Van Wyk scored a stunning free kick when Banyana recorded their first ever win over Nigeria since the women's national team was formed in 1993. Van Wyk scored the only goal of that match, with Banyana knocking Nigeria out of the 2012

. She was a member of the South African team who played at the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

in London, United Kingdom. She said she was proud to represent her country at an Olympic Games, despite the team being knocked out in the first round. Van Wyk played her 100th cap for South Africa against

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

, winning 2–0 in August 2014. At the time, she was the second most capped South African women's player as her teammate Portia Modise won her 110th cap in the same match. On 28 March 2016, she became South Africa's most capped player (male or female) when she made her 125th appearance against

Cameroon Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...

. On 18 September 2018, she earned her 150th cap for South Africa. Van Wyk became the first Captain to lead her team to a Women's World Cup Appearance, as well as the first Captain in South Africa's history to lead a South African Team at the 2019 Women's World Cup.Van Wyk then captained the banyana banyana to their first WAFCON victory in history, this after losing their last four appearances in the final, it is due to note that although she was benched in the final against Morocco, she still got the captains perks of holding the title with the on field captain and second in command Jane Refiloe

JVW F.C.

Van Wyk founded a football club JVW F.C. in 2013 "with the intention to focus on the development of the female football player whilst providing a platform for them to reach higher levels in the sport. Starting with only one team in 2013 that participated in the Sasol League, JVW FC has grown tremendously in the past years developing young female athletes to now having Five teams representing the Football Club" The JVW First team won the Gauteng Sasol League in 2016, where Van Wyk served as a Player-coach, and reached the Sasol League National Championship final where they ultimately lost 1–0 to Bloemfontein Celtic Ladies. A couple years later in 2019 JVW FC won the Gauteng Sasol League once again and became the National Champions beating Limpopo representatives Maindies Ladies 2–0 in the final and booked their place in the recently launched (2019) National Women's League.

Honours

Club

Glasgow City *

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

International

* 2022 Africa Women Cup of Nations Winner *

Africa Women Cup of Nations The Women's Africa Cup of Nations, also called the TotalEnergies Women's Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons and abbreviated to WAFCON, is an international women's football competition held every two years and sanctioned by the Conf ...

runner-up:

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

* 2017

Confederation of African Football The Confederation of African Football, or CAF for short (french: link=yes, Confédération Africaine de Football, ar, link=yes, الاتحاد الأفريقي لكرة القدم, al-Ittiḥād al-Afrīqī li-Kurat al-Qadam), is the administ ...

: Team of the Year Banyana Banyana

Individual

South African Football Association The South African Football Association (colloquially known as SAFA) is the national administrative governing body that controls the sport of football in the Republic of South Africa (RSA) and is a member of the Confederation of African Football ...

Banyana Banyana Captain: 2013 onward *

Best Female Player: 2010 *

Cosafa Women's Championship The COSAFA Women's Championship is an association football tournament for teams from Southern Africa organized by Council of Southern Africa Football Associations (COSAFA). South Africa have won the most titles with seven wins. Zimbabwe won the ...

Player of the Tournament: 2011 * Ekurhuleni Sports Awards Ekurhuleni Sports Woman of the Year: 2012 * Gauteng Sports Awards Sports Personality of the Year: 2015 * IFFHS CAF Woman Team of the Decade 2011–2020

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Van Wyk, Janine Living people 1987 births People from Alberton, Gauteng Women's association football defenders Afrikaner people South African women's soccer players South Africa women's international soccer players Footballers at the 2012 Summer Olympics Footballers at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic soccer players of South Africa FIFA Century Club South African expatriate soccer players Expatriate women's soccer players in the United States National Women's Soccer League players Houston Dash players South African expatriate sportspeople in the United States 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup players South African LGBT sportspeople LGBT association football players Lesbian sportswomen Fortuna Hjørring players South African expatriates in Denmark Expatriate women's footballers in Denmark Glasgow City F.C. players Sportspeople from Gauteng Scottish Women's Premier League players Expatriate women's footballers in Scotland South African expatriate sportspeople in Scotland