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Rated by many as what Percy Tau is to South African football, Banyana Banyana star Thembi Kgatlana has triggered “high expectations” from her new club in Portugal.
The 23-year-old Kgatlana joined the women’s side of top Portuguese club SL Benfica this week after a spell in China last year.
The Benfica Feminino, as the women’s team is known, are the runaway leaders in the race for the championship and clinching the league title will present Kgatlana with a chance to play the Uefa Women’s Champions League football next season.
Benfica have won all their 13 matches in the Campeonato Nacional Feminino so far this season and, in the process, scored an astonishing 94 goals against one conceded.
Still, Benfica vice-president Fernando Tavares said during Kgatlana’s unveiling on Monday: “With this signing we will add other solutions to Benfica’s offensive line, with respect to our season goals.”
“We have high expectations on Thembi,” said Tavares.
“She was considered the best African of the year in 2019, is a player with very strong characteristics, is very fast, can perform two positions on the field, as a striker or as a winger.”
Kgatlana, who hails from Randfontein in the West Rand, came to prominence three years ago when she sighed her first professional contract in the US National Women’s Soccer League with
Houston Dash.
She, alongside her Banyana Banyana captain, Janine van Wyk and Linda Motlhalo, where lured by former senior national women’s coach Vera Pauw.
Portugal is Kgatlana’s third career move after a stint with Beijing BG Phoenix in China last season.
However, the move to Benfica makes Kgatlana among a handful of Banyana players to earn a deal in one of Europe’s top leagues after her national teammate Refiloe Jane was signed by Italian Serie A Women’s League powerhouse AC Milan in September last year.
Among her highlights, Kgatlana - with 18 Banyana caps - was named the 2018 African player of the year and she scored the first World Cup goal for South Africa in the team’s debut at the global showpiece in France.
“Benfica is a great club in Portugal and the world. I saw their records, for me to be able to get into such a big club is an honour to me and my career,”
Kgatlana told her new club’s website during her unveiling.
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