Simphiwe Mendy Dludlu (born 21 September 1987) is a South African professional soccer manager and former player. Dludlu is the former head coach of the South African women's national U/17. She led the team to their second

FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup The FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup is an annual (biennial until 2024) international women's association football tournament for female players under the age of 17. It is organized by ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' (FIFA) ...

qualification in 2018 which was hosted in Uruguay.

Early life

Dludlu attended TuksSport High School. In 2007, she began studies at

University of Pretoria The University of Pretoria (, ) is a multi-campus public university, public research university in Pretoria, the administrative and ''de facto'' capital of South Africa. The university was established in 1908 as the Pretoria campus of the Johan ...

and graduated with a Sports Science degree in 2012.

Club career

At a club level, Dludlu played as a defender for

Mamelodi Sundowns Mamelodi Sundowns Football Club (simply known as Sundowns) is a South African professional football club based in Mamelodi, Pretoria in the Gauteng province that plays in the Premiership, the first tier of South African football league syste ...

. In football circles, she was nicknamed "Shorty".

International career

Dludlu made her first appearance for the South Africa senior national team in 2006 during a match against

Mozambique Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique, is a country located in Southeast Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west, and Eswatini and South Afr ...

. She was the captain of the South African women's national team between 2009 and 2010. In May 2014, Dludlu made her 50th cap for the South Africa senior team during a friendly match against

Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...

. In September 2014, she was named to the roster in preparation for the

2014 African Women's Championship The 2014 African Women's Championship, the 11th edition of the tournament, was held in Namibia. This tournament, organized by the Confederation of African Football, was also a qualification tournament for the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup, with top ...

Namibia Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country on the west coast of Southern Africa. Its borders include the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south; in the no ...

. She announced her retirement from international football in March 2014, aspiring to pursue a career in coaching instead. She finished her playing career for the South African team on 63 caps.

Coaching career

Upon graduating from the University of Pretoria in 2012, she became coach of the university women's football team, playing in the University Sports South Africa (USSA) leagues. In her first two years with the team, they reached the final of the USSA Football National Club Championships. In May 2013, Dludlu earned a UEFA B Licence coaching certificate. Alongside other former South African women's internationals, she is a scout for the

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NXT Level programme. She was also the coach of the

Tshwane University of Technology Tshwane University of Technology (TUT; ) is a higher education institution in South Africa that came into being through a merger of three technikons — Technikon Northern Gauteng, Technikon North-West and Technikon Pretoria. As the number of ...

women's high performance soccer team. Currently, Dludlu is coaching the South African women's national U/17 team and qualified for the 2018 FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup in Uruguay. In 2022, she was tasked with selecting a South Africa women's national team, the A team coached by Desiree Ellis was taking part in a series of friendly matches with

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

and could not participate, for the

2022 COSAFA Women's Championship The 2022 COSAFA Women's Championship is the 10th edition of the COSAFA Women's Championship, a women's international football tournament for national teams organised by COSAFA, teams from Southern Africa. It takes place from 31 August to 11 Sept ...

. Her team won a silver medal at the tournament losing out to

Zambia Zambia, officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa. It is typically referred to being in South-Central Africa or Southern Africa. It is bor ...

1-0 in the final.

Honours

South Africa * COSAFA Women's Championship: runner up:

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

COSAFA U-17 Women's Championship The COSAFA Women's U17 Championship is an annual football tournament for women's under-17 teams from Southern Africa organized by the Council of Southern Africa Football Associations (COSAFA). The tournament was introduced to develop the woman's ...

: Runners-Up:

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

, Third place:

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

References

External links

South Africa player profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dludlu, Simphiwe 1987 births Living people Sportspeople from Alexandra, Gauteng Women's association football defenders South African women's soccer players South Africa women's international soccer players Soccer players from Gauteng South African soccer managers Female association football managers South Africa women's national soccer team managers University of Pretoria F.C. Sasol Women's League players 21st-century South African sportswomen