13 April 2026 – Sasol Banyana Banyana defenders Bambanani Mbane and Karabo Dhlamini are set for major career milestones when they face Algeria in the upcoming two international friendly matches in Durban.
Mbane will be making her 100th appearance for country while Dhlamini will clock up half a century of caps. South Africa will take on the North Africans on Tuesday, 14 April at the Princess Magogo Stadium, followed by the second clash three days later on Friday, 17 April at the King Zwelithini Stadium.
Both games kickoff at 3pm.
Known to her peers as Juice, Mbane joins an esteemed group of Sasol Banyana Banyana and becomes the 12th player to reach this milestone:
- Janine van Wyk (retired): 185 caps
- Noko Matlou (retired): 174
- Nompumelelo Nyandeni (retired): 150
- Refiloe Jane: 146
- Nothando Vilakazi: 137
- Portia Modise (retired): 124
- Mamello Makhabane: 121
- Lebohang Ramalepe: 118
- Jermaine Seoposenwe (retired): 112
- Amanda Dlamini (retired): 105
- Leandra Smeda: 100
The Eastern Cape-born Mbane made her national team debut as a substitute in 2016 in the second leg of CAF Women’s Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Botswana at the Makhulong Stadium in Tembisa. South Africa won the game 3-0.
Three years later (19 January 2019), Dhlamini would don her first South African Senior Women’s National team jersey at the Cape Town Stadium in a 2-1 loss to the Netherlands – she was only 17.
Since then, both have never looked back.
“Bambanani has been immense for the team, there’s a period where she went through injuries and would probably have reached the milestone sooner, but she’s been ever present in our defence, someone you can rely on and we saw that at the WAFCON. With Karabo, people thought I was mad when I took her to the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup straight from the FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup as a 17 year old turning 18 but where would she be now if we did not do that because we needed to also make sure that it wasn’t just about that World Cup but was about getting someone to go forward,” said Sasol Banyana Banyana Head Coach, Dr Desiree Ellis.
“So, it’s well deserved for both of them because of the efforts that they’ve put in and they’ve never ever really disappointed. They have been players that you can count on but also for the younger players to look up to because they’ve been ultimate professionals.”
Team captain and fellow centurion, Refiloe Jane, has also showered her teammates with praises.
“For Bambanani who is going to reach her 100th cap and Karabo who is going into her 50th, it shows the consistency, the discipline, the hard work that they’ve been putting behind the scenes within the team. And it’s a motivation to other players also to say if one player can reach such a century it means it’s possible, so one needs to go and get guidelines and get what motivated them, what worked for them for them to be able to reach where they are. We are really happy for them we can’t wait to celebrate it with them and we’re looking forward to it,” said Jane.
Both Mbane and Dlamini were part of the gold-winning Sasol Banyana Banyana squad at the 2022 CAF Women’s Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco. They also featured at the two FIFA Women’s World Cup tournaments in France (2019) as well as Australia and New Zealand (2023).
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Sport Trivia: Apart from a team event bronze medal in 1992, Ghana won three other individual Olympic medals in the 20th century. These were all in the same event. Which event was this? Answer: Boxing. Ghanaian boxers won silver in Rome in 1960, bronze in Tokyo in 1964, and Munich in 1972.