‘We would take our shoes off and play barefoot because you weren’t allowed to ruin your shoes,’
Belinda Nkosi (35), the head coach for the NWU Pukke women’s soccer team took a trip down memory lane remembering where her passion for football started.

‘We just wanted to have fun, with all the shibobos,’ she recounted excitedly.

Nkosi, the youngest and only girl of eight grandchildren grew up going to Kaizer Chiefs games.
‘The passion that people had while watching Doctor Khumalo ignited a passion inside of me,’ she said.
As an 8-year-old, she wanted to be part of the fun that her cousins had. When her parents bought her a soccer ball, she got her chance.
‘They used my ball so they had to let me play, otherwise, I would take it and go and sit inside. They never passed the ball to me but it was still great just to be on the field,’ Nkosi said.
Before moving to Diepkloof in Soweto, Nkosi attended Afrikaner Hoërskool in Germiston and later went to Vector College. By age 15, she was still playing with the boys.
‘It was during this time that I was invited to play in a tournament. I had never played with other women and didn’t know anybody in the team,’ she said.

Nkosi scored two goals during her first game, which resulted in the Moroka Swallows women’s team asking her to play for them.

Nkosi’s days of playing with the boys were over. During her time at Swallows, she was selected for the South African women’s (Banyana Banyana) team and competed in the All Africa Games.
She retired from football in 2009 and moved to Potch to start a nail business.
‘The Puk heard there was an ex-national player in Potch doing nails. They came to the shop one day and asked me to play for the club,’ Nkosi said. The rest, as they say, is history,
Nkosi joined the PUK Tawana football club as a striker. Shortly after joining, she started coaching Kasteel, which won the hostel soccer league that same year. When the previous coach left, it was only natural that she would step into a player/coach role Z one that she still occupies today.
Since Nkosi started coaching the NWU Puk women’s team, they have become the best in the province, only missing out on the national competition twice during her five-year tenure.
‘I’ve laid a foundation of sisterhood in the team. Although it is frustrating that there is no professional structure for women in football, I motivate the ladies by saying they can get an education while playing football. Let your feet work for you,’ she said.
Nkosi attributes her success to a few people, her mother who was her rock growing up, Augustine Makalakalane, the coach she played under at Banyana Banyana and Michael Seleka, the manager of PUK soccer who has supported her throughout her coaching career.

‘You don’t have to be the most skilled player to be a good coach, you just need a passion for the game,’ she said.

This vibrant hard working woman who is fast becoming a giant in football circles is also a budding business woman. As if winning trophies isn’t hard enough, she still operates her business in Delareyville in between.