Noko Alice Matlou (born 30 September 1985) 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 Spanish

Primera Federación The Primera Federación, formerly known as Primera División RFEF, is the third tier of the Spanish football league system beginning with the 2021–22 season. It is administered by the Royal Spanish Football Federation. It is below the top t ...

side

SD Eibar Sociedad Deportiva Eibar (in eu, Eibar Kirol Elkartea) is a professional Spanish football club based in Eibar, Gipuzkoa, in the autonomous Basque Country. Founded on 30 November 1940, the team currently plays in the Segunda División, the s ...

. She has represented the South Africa women's national team both as a striker and a defender. In 2008, Matlou became the first South African to be named

African Women's Footballer of the Year African Women Footballer of the Year, an annual award for Africa's best female football player. It is awarded by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) in December each year. Nigeria's Asisat Oshoala has won the award a record five times. ...

Club career

At a club level, she plays for MaIndies. She has previously played for Development Ladies, Brazilian Ladies and the

University of Johannesburg The University of Johannesburg (UJ) is a public university located in Johannesburg, South Africa. The University of Johannesburg came into existence on 1 January 2005 as the result of a merger between the Rand Afrikaans University (RAU), the ...

. Within footballing circles, she is nicknamed "Beep-Beep". Matlou trains with male footballers to enhance her game: "I train regularly with local male clubs and when I get on to the field with the women they simply cannot touch me." In 2008, she became the first South African to be named

by the Confederation of African Football.

International career

Matlou made her debut for

South Africa women's national football 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 agai ...

("Banyana Banyana") in December 2006. In September 2009, Matlou was subjected to a gender " inspection" by a referee in the presence of the opposition captain, before South Africa's match against

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

Caledonian Stadium Caledonian Stadium is a football ground in the Longman area of Inverness, Scotland, near the banks of the Moray Firth. It hosts home matches of Scottish Professional Football League club Inverness Caledonian Thistle. History Inverness Cal ...

Pretoria Pretoria () is South Africa's administrative capital, serving as the seat of the executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to South Africa. Pretoria straddles the Apies River and extends eastward into the foot ...

. She was allowed to play in the match after being confirmed as female. Matlou came to prominence within the national team by scoring six goals at the

2008 African Women's Championship The 2008 African Women's Championship is of 15–29 November 2008 in Equatorial Guinea Equatorial Guinea ( es, Guinea Ecuatorial; french: Guinée équatoriale; pt, Guiné Equatorial), officially the Republic of Equatorial Guinea ( es, li ...

. She has been selected for the squads for a variety of tournaments, including at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, United Kingdom. In 2014, South Africa's

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

Vera Pauw Vera Pauw (; born 18 January 1963) is a Dutch football coach and former player. She currently manages the Republic of Ireland women's national football team. She has managed several national women's football teams, including Scotland, Netherland ...

deployed Matlou—previously a striker, as a defender.

Honours

South Africa *

Women's Africa 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 Confe ...

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretariat; The global monkeypo ...

, runner-up:

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

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 gat ...

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 Unit ...

; third place: 2010 Individual *

: 2008

References

External links

Noko Matlou
at BDFútbol * * 1985 births Living people People from Capricorn District Municipality Soccer players from Limpopo South African women's soccer players Women's association football forwards SD Eibar Femenino players Liga F players South Africa women's international soccer players 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup players Olympic soccer players for South Africa Footballers at the 2012 Summer Olympics Footballers at the 2016 Summer Olympics African Women's Footballer of the Year winners FIFA Women's Century Club South African expatriate women's soccer players South African expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate women's footballers in Spain Primera Federación (women) players 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup players {{SouthAfrica-women-footy-bio-stub