Sanah Mollo (born 30 January 1987) 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 ...

who plays 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 Premier Soccer League, the first tier of South African football ...

and has represented 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 ...

, including at the Summer Olympics football tournaments.

Football career

Club

Sanah Mollo was born in

Villiers, Free State Villiers is a small town situated on the banks of the Vaal River next to the N3 highway in the Free State province of South Africa. It was founded in 1882 on the two farms ''Pearson Valley'' and ''Grootdraai'' owned by Lourens de ''Villiers''. L ...

on 30 January 1987, and began playing football at the age of nine for The Birds FC, an amateur team. Her parents initially opposed her attendance at the club but eventually became supportive. She continued to play while at high school, and was offered a sports bursary to attend the

University of the Free State The University of the Free State is a multi-campus public university in Bloemfontein, the capital of the Free State and the judicial capital of South Africa. It was first established as an institution of higher learning in 1904 as a tertiary se ...

after playing against them. At a club level, she currently plays for

International

From a young age, Mollo wanted to play for the

, and she made her debut in 2006 in a match against

Senegal Senegal,; Wolof: ''Senegaal''; Pulaar: 𞤅𞤫𞤲𞤫𞤺𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭 (Senegaali); Arabic: السنغال ''As-Sinighal'') officially the Republic of Senegal,; Wolof: ''Réewum Senegaal''; Pulaar : 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 ...

. She has continued to appear in the squads for tournaments over the years, including at the

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 ...

and 2016 Summer Olympics. She was a member of the team that was runners-up at 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 ...

Personal

Mollo holds a marketing degree from the University of the Free State. She works full-time in customer management, working around training and taking time off during tournaments to allow her to play for South Africa. She isn't paid by her club, but is given a travel stipend, and receives some funds from the national team.

References

External links

* 1987 births Living people People from Mafube Local Municipality South African Sotho people Women's association football midfielders South African women's soccer players South Africa women's international soccer players Footballers at the 2012 Summer Olympics Footballers at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic soccer players for South Africa Soccer players from the Free State (province) {{SouthAfrica-women-footy-bio-stub