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 Te ...

. 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 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 ...

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 An inspection is, most generally, an organized examination or formal evaluation exercise. In engineering activities inspection involves the measurements, tests, and gauges applied to certain characteristics in regard to an object or activity. ...

" by a

referee A referee is an official, in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The official tasked with this job may be known by a variety of other titl ...

in the presence of the opposition

captain 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 ...

, 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 Caledon ...

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

. 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. She has been selected for the squads for a variety of tournaments, including 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. 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 Women's association football, 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, i ...

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; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

, 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 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 ...

; third place:

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

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