Christina Thembi "Pikinini" Kgatlana (born 2 May 1996) is a South African professional soccer player who plays as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

for

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 ...

club Racing Louisville FC and the South Africa women's national team.

Club career

Houston Dash

In February 2018, Kgatlana moved to the United States to join the Houston Dash in the

. She was brought in by her former national team coach

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 ...

. Kgatlana joined her South African teammates Janine van Wyk and Linda Motlhalo in Houston. Kgatlana made 16 appearances with Houston and she scored 2 goals. Owing to her accepting a move overseas, Kgatlana was waived by the Houston Dash on 6 February 2019.

Beijing BG Phoenix

On 22 February 2019, Kgatlana was announced as having signed with Beijing BG Phoenix F.C. in the Chinese Women's Super League on a one-year deal. She was joined by South African teammate Linda Motlhalo who also made the move from Houston to China. Kgatlana scored six league goals in 10 appearances during the

2019 Chinese Women's Super League The 2019 Chinese Women's Super League season was the league's 5th season in its current incarnation, and the 23rd total season of the women's association football league in China. The season started on 13 July and concluded on 22 September. Dali ...

campaign, helping her Beijing BG Phoenix side to a fifth-place finish.

SL Benfica

On 27 January 2020 she signed with

SL Benfica Sport Lisboa e Benfica (), commonly known as Benfica, is a professional football club based in Lisbon, Portugal, that competes in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese football. Founded on 28 February 1904 as ''Sport Lisboa'', ...

. On 1 February 2020 she made her debut with the club being subbed on in a 3–1 win over Braga in

Taça da Liga Feminina The Taça da Liga Feminina of football is a league cup competition in Portugal. It is due to start during the 2019–20 season involving the top four teams at the end of the first half of the Campeonato Nacional. It is scheduled to start in Ja ...

. Prior to their cancellation owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, Kgatlana helped Benfica to the final of both Portuguese Cup and Taca da Liga Femenina competitions as well as the top of the league table. The result was enough to qualify the club for the UEFA Women's Champions League for the first time in their history.

SD Eibar

Kgatlana's spell at Benfica came to an early end owing to complications arising from the COVID-19 crisis, with a salary cap introduced across Portuguese women's football. On 21 July 2020, it was announced that she had joined newly promoted Spanish Primera División side SD Eibar on a one-year contract. Kgatlana made her debut on 4 October 2020 in a 1–0 victory over Real Betis, before opening her goalscoring account the following week in a 2–2 draw against Levante. On 31 October 2020, Kgatlana scored her second goal for the club on her first start in a 1–0 victory over Espanyol, however she was forced off with the game still in the first half due to a minor injury. Upon her return from injury, she immediately returned to goalscoring form with a stunning strike in a 3–1 defeat to Real Madrid having once again entered from the substitutes bench.

Racing Louisville

NWSL club Racing Louisville paid a transfer fee to obtain Kgatlana on 6 July 2022. She signed a two-year contract with a club option for the 2024 season. However, she missed the 2022 season after tearing her Achilles tendon against Botswana in the

2022 Women's Africa Cup of Nations The 2022 Women's Africa Cup of Nations ( ar, كأس الأمم الإفريقية للسيدات 2022, french: Coupe d'Afrique des nations féminine 2022), (also referred to as WAFCON 2022) officially known as the 2022 TotalEnergies Women's Afric ...

. She debuted for Racing on 6 May against Orlando Pride, her first match since tearing her Achilles tendon in 2022. On 12 May, joining the match as an 81st-minute substitute, she assisted on Racing's third goal of the match.

International career

Kgatlana represented her country at the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...

and the

2018 Africa Women Cup of Nations Eighteen or 18 may refer to: * 18 (number), the natural number following 17 and preceding 19 * one of the years 18 BC, AD 18, 1918, 2018 Film, television and entertainment * ''18'' (film), a 1993 Taiwanese experimental film based on the short s ...

, where she won the Player of the Tournament and was the highest goal scorer. She also represented South Africa at the

2019 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup was the eighth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial international Women's association football championship contested by 24 women's national teams representing member associations of FIFA. It ...

in France, where she scored her country's first goal ever in the tournament. On 2 August 2023, she scored the winning goal in a 3–2 victory over Italy in the

2023 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup is scheduled to be the ninth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup competition, the quadrennial international women's football championship contested by the women's national association football teams organised ...

last group stage match, to be her country's first ever win in the competition which led to their qualification to the knockout phase.

International goals

''Scores and results list South Africa's goal tally first''

Career statistics

Club

Honours

Benfica *

Taça da Liga The Taça da Liga (), known outside Portugal as Portuguese League Cup, is an annual football club competition organised by the Liga Portuguesa de Futebol Profissional (LPFP) for teams competing in the Primeira Liga and LigaPro, the top two tier ...

: 2019–20 International * Women's Africa Cup of Nations:

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:

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 ...

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 ...

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

Individual * CAF African Women's Footballer of the Year 2018 * CAF African Goal of the Year: 2018 * CAF Africa Women Cup of Nations Best Player:

* CAF Africa Women Cup of Nations Top Scorer:

* Cyprus Cup Best player

Player of the Tournament: 2017

References

External links

*
Profile
at

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 ...

(CAF) {{DEFAULTSORT:Kgatlana, Thembi 1996 births Living people Soccer players from Gauteng South African women's soccer players Women's association football forwards Houston Dash players Beijing BG Phoenix F.C. players S.L. Benfica (women) footballers SD Eibar Femenino players Atlético Madrid Femenino players National Women's Soccer League players Liga F players Campeonato Nacional de Futebol Feminino players South Africa women's international soccer players Olympic soccer players for South Africa Footballers at the 2016 Summer Olympics 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup players African Women's Footballer of the Year winners South African expatriate women's soccer players South African expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate women's soccer players in the United States South African expatriate sportspeople in China Expatriate women's footballers in China South African expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Expatriate women's footballers in Portugal South African expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate women's footballers in Spain 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup players LGBT association football players South African LGBT sportspeople South African lesbians Lesbian sportswomen 20th-century South African women 20th-century South African LGBT people 21st-century South African women 21st-century South African LGBT people