Refiloe Jane’s rise from unknown schoolgirl spotted at a talent competition to leading her country at a FIFA Women’s World Cup should serve as an inspiration to those who believe in the impossible dream.
Jane has become one of the most iconic players in the Banyana Banyana side over the last decade, helping them become African champions and appearing at two Olympic Games and two Women’s World Cups.
No other player can match that success, but it is testament to her longevity and continued excellence that she remains a key part of the national set-up, and at the age of 32, feels she still has much more to give.
The midfielder was singled out at the Gauteng Future Champions Talent Identification Programme while a Grade 11 pupil at Emshukantambo Secondary School in Pimville, Soweto, and set on the road to stardom.
“Winning the Gauteng Future Champions really kick-started my career and gave me so much confidence to believe that I can play for a top local side and even internationally,” Jane tells FORBES AFRICA.
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“The time I spent training with Manchester City and Everton (as a result of winning the Gauteng Future Champions) also opened my eyes up to what is required to be a professional player and I made sure that I put into practice what I learned there.
“When my development started, I was playing a long time with boys until the age of 14. When I was there training with those teams (in England), I saw there is more to football than what I was experiencing at home.
“It changed my life when I got there. I came back and said I would take my football seriously and invest a lot in it.”
Jane soon got a contract at home with an emerging Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies side, who were not yet the force they are today, but an ambitious club desperate to change the narrative around women’s football.
They found a willing player in Jane desperate for success, and she found a club to give her that platform.
“After joining Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies in late 2010, I put my head down and said to myself that I am going to give everything I have to try and make it into the Banyana Banyana squad. Thankfully, that hard work has paid off.”
She was included in Banyana’s squad for the 2012 Olympic Games at the age of 19, and repeated that feat in 2016 when she traveled to Brazil with the team for the Rio de Janeiro games.
Other players have been and gone, but through it all, Jane has been a constant and someone the team relies on to bring balance to the midfield.
“The team (Banyana Banyana) has improved very well, we have quite a number of players who have gone overseas and are still overseas, I think the (2019) World Cup played a huge role in the growth of women’s football in our country.”
Jane got her big break in professional football when she was signed to a short-term contract with Australian side Canberra United, heading Down Under with compatriot Rhoda Mulaudzi.
But after impressing at the World Cup in France in 2019, bigger things were on the horizon and she was signed by top Italian club AC Milan.
She spent three seasons there before moving to fellow Serie A team Sassuolo, where she featured in 29 games over two seasons, her second campaign cut short by a serious long-term injury sustained at the 2023 World Cup.
She has since left Sassuolo and is looking forward to a fresh challenge, and suggests later on she will perhaps take up the coaching reins.
“I do have ambitions of giving back to the game in the future, all that experience I have gained overseas, I want to come back home one day and plough back. The game has done so much for me and given me so much,” Jane said.
“I want to teach, to coach, to give back in any way to the youngsters who see themselves playing the game. I am looking forward to doing that after my playing days.”
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