Nothando "Vivo" Vilakazi (born 28 October 1988) is a South African

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 le ...

who plays as a defender for Spanish

Primera División Primera may refer to * Nissan Primera, a car * Primera Air, a former airline * Primera división (disambiguation), multiple top division football leagues * Primera, Texas, a town in Cameron County, Texas * Alí Primera, Venezuelan musician, compos ...

club

EdF Logroño EDF may refer to: Organisations * Eclaireurs de France, a French Scouting association * Education for Development Foundation, a Thai charity * Électricité de France, a French energy company ** EDF Energy, their British subsidiary ** EDF Luminus, ...

and the South Africa women's national team.

Early life

Nothando Vilakazi was born in Middelburg, South Africa, on 28 October 1988. She played for a boys team between the ages of 9 and 14, when she started playing with girls. At the age of 17, she started playing in the Sasol League for the Highlanders team. She completed her schooling at TuksSport High School, associated with the

University of Pretoria The University of Pretoria ( af, Universiteit van Pretoria, nso, Yunibesithi ya Pretoria) is a multi-campus public university, public research university in Pretoria, the administrative and de facto capital of South Africa. The university was ...

's High Performance Centre, for which she was selected while representing Mpumalanga at a tournament.

Career

Vilakazi played for Palace Super Falcons, having previously played for

Moroka Swallows Moroka Swallows Football Club (often known as simply Swallows or The Birds) is a South African professional football club based in Soweto in the city of Johannesburg in the Gauteng province. Founded in 1947, Swallows are one of the original two ...

. In footballing circles, she is nicknamed "Vivo".

International

She made her international debut for the

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 ...

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 ...

in 2007. Vilakazi has been a regular feature of the team as they were managed by

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 ...

. Vilakazi was part of the team which were runners up in the

2012 African Women's Championship The 2012 African Women's Championship was a football competition, which was organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF). The final tournament was held in from 28 October to 11 November in Equatorial Guinea. Qualification A total of ...

. As part of the South African team, she has played at both 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, and 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 ...

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

, Brazil. She played in all six of South Africa's games at the 2016 tournament. Vilakazi has continued to feature in the squads for the nation following the transition to the management of

Desiree Ellis Desiree Ellis (born 14 March 1963) is a South African soccer manager and former player. She currently coaches the South Africa women's national team. She is a founding member of the ''Banyana Banyana'' and the second captain of the national te ...

after the Olympics.

References

External links

Nothando Vilakazi
at BDFútbol
Nothando Vilakazi
–

UEFA Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...

competition record 1988 births Living people South African women's soccer players Women's association football defenders Gintra Universitetas players South Africa women's international soccer players Footballers at the 2012 Summer Olympics Olympic soccer players of South Africa Footballers at the 2016 Summer Olympics 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup players FIFA Women's Century Club South African expatriate women's soccer players South African expatriate sportspeople in Lithuania Expatriate women's footballers in Lithuania South African expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate women's footballers in Spain Dux Logroño players {{SouthAfrica-women-footy-bio-stub