Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies goalkeeper Andile Dlamini’s star continues to shine brighter with each passing moment.
Sticks, as she is popularly known among her peers, was on Saturday (25 March 2023) named the 2022 Sports Star of the Year at the 16th annual South African Sports Awards held at Sun City near Rustenburg.
She pipped Ashleigh Buhai- golf and Matthew Sates-swimming to the trophy.
“This award means a whole lot!. It means women are being recognized in the country. I don’t only represent football, but I represent women in general and I know that this is for women in South Africa who fight extremely hard to be on and May God bless you May God continue blessing you may you continue working hard make everything that you do be recognized. This is the hard work that you put behind the scenes, that is seen in the lights. Bua so for me it means a lot, it means God is alive He paves the way and I just walk on it,” said an elated Dlamini.
Equally excited was her national team coach, Desiree Ellis.
“It’s incredible, Andile has been fantastic in the last six months or so and we all know where she comes from, the challenges that she has faced with the illness and everything else and to work so hard and then get this big reward, is just absolutely amazing. They say the work you put in that is the result of you get. And if you look at the past couple of months it’s all been amazing, so there’s just been an amazing couple of years and I think God is absolutely showing off,” said Ellis.
“If you know where Andile l is coming from, like I said with the illness that shared and had to come back and work am really hard so I we always say you know teamwork is big, if Banyana Banyana does well the individuals will stand out and she was the individual that stood up this time and we congratulate her more than anything because she has just been amazing over the last couple of months.”
The Sports Star of the Year is one of many awards that have been won recently by the 30-year old shot-stopper of the Sasol-sponsored Banyana Banyana.
Also at Sun City, she walked away with the Minister’s Excellence award.
After winning the 2022 CAF Women’s Africa Cup of Nations with the South African Senior Women’s National team, Dlamini claimed the Goalkeeper of the Tournament accolade, the same award she won with Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies in the CAF Champions League.
These were followed by the Tshwane Sports Woman of the Year in January and the Gauteng Sports Woman of the Year in February.
That was not all.
At the Gauteng Women in Sports gong, she bagged the Sports Woman of the Year title.
As if that was not enough, Dlamini took home the Gauteng Sports Personality of the Year at the Gauteng Sports Awards.
Sticks has been ever present in the national team and was part of the Banyana Banyana squad that participated in the London 2012 and Rio 2016 Olympic Games, saw South Africa qualify for the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup, played a crucial role to help her country lift their maiden continental title in Morocco – the same tournament where South Africa booked her ticket to Australia and New Zealand for the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
At club level, she has led Sundowns Ladies to three Hollywoodbets Super League titles, the CAF COSAFA Champions League win, paving the way for a win in the inaugural CAF Women’s Champions League.
Dlamini is part of the preliminary squad of 32 players that have been named by Ellis to face Serbia in an international friendly match away in Eastern Europe.
ANDILE DLAMINI’S INDIVIDUAL AWARDS:
- GOALKEEPER OF THE YEAR: 2021 CAF WOMEN’S CHAMPIONS LEAGUE WAFCON
- GOALKEEPER OF THE YEAR: 2022 CAF WOMEN’S AFRICA CUP OF NATIONS
- TSHWANE SPORTS WOMAN OF THE YEAR: JANUARY 2023
- GAUTENG SPORTS WOMAN OF THE YEAR: FEBRUARY 2023
- SPORTSWOMAN OF THE YEAR: GAUTENG WOMEN IN SPORTS
- GAUTENG SPORTS PERSONALITY OF THE YEAR: GAUTENG SPORTS AWARDS
- SPORTS STAR OF THE YEAR: SA SPORTS AWARDS
- MINISTER’S EXCELLENCE AWARD
By Matlhomola Morake
