Mpumi Nyandeni

Nompumelelo "Mpumi" Nyandeni (born 19 August 1987) is a South African soccer player who plays as a midfielder for SAFA Women's League side JVW. Nyandeni has represented the South Africa women's national football team 150 times, including at both the 2012 and 2016 Summer Olympics. She is the third most capped player for the national team. Quotes I didn’t even think that I would reach 100, never mind 150. I was just playing soccer and representing my country. I was just doing what I love. I didn’t even expect that one day I will be one of the most capped players in senior women’s football. I was just playing soccer, being a girl from a rural area, just doing what I love, that’s why I said I feel blessed that I am amongst those legends in Africa. I’m proud of myself because I never thought that I would be where I am today. You know, that’s why I say hard work pays off. Just keep working. God will answer your prayers and just keep praying. When the young girls watch us on television they tell their parents, I want to play like Mpumi Nyandeni or Portia Modise… Thanks to the SABC and Hollywoodbets our games are now on television, if they can’t go to the stadium they can still see us and they know they can still watch women’s football. This will inspire them to play soccer because they are now able to see us and in that way, we inspire them to achieve their dreams and even achieve more than we have. I will say to the young, upcoming footballers, they need to work hard, stay disciplined and carry themselves (well). What is important is how to carry yourself and don’t forget to pray and work hard, because your hard work, is going to pay off. So they need to work hard and leave the friends that have bad habits. Choose your friends but focus on yourself and believe in yourself. So that is most important if you believe in yourself, no one can take that from you. Nompumelelo Nyandeni: “Blessed to be Amongst African Football Legends” Gsport (2 April 2025) The way I loved football, I just wanted to be around the football pitch; I would ref sometimes. Mpumi Nyandeni: The barefoot wizard still dazzling two decades on Far Post (22 March 2023) I am a firm believer that discipline, hard work, and passion are the best form of ingredients for a player to last as long as I have in the game. For me, personally, no one has the audacity to come and tell me when I should retire because that person was not there when I started playing football. I will retire when my body is no longer able to carry me. I will retire on my own accord. Football is my world – without it, there’s little else for me. My passion for the game is boundless, and I aim to keep playing for as long as I can. That’s how deep my love for football runs. Veteran footballer Mpumi Nyandeni not ready to call it quits SABC Sport (6 February 2024) External links Category:1987 births Category:Living people Category:Soccer players from South Africa Category:Women in sports Category:Women born in the 1980s Category:SAFA Women's League players Category:People from Durban