2023-12-04 17:56:41
By Le Figaro with Reuters
Published 1 minute ago, Updated now
Van Wyk. Federico Pestellini / Federico Pestellini / Panoramic
By making her 185th international appearance on Monday against Burkina Faso, van Wyk became the most capped African player.
South African defender Janine van Wyk became the most capped African footballer of all time when she made her 185th international appearance on Monday, in a seven-minute match against Burkina Faso that was staged to allow her to set the record.
Van Wyk, 36, overtakes former Egypt international Ahmed Hassan, who earned 184 caps and was a mainstay of his side between 1995 and 2012. The South African, who did not feature in the recent World Cup women’s football team in Australia and New Zealand due to injury, announced her international retirement in October, but she earned the two caps needed to overtake Hassan in the African Women’s Cup of Nations qualifiers against the Burkinabés.
The second lasted just seven minutes before it was replaced during a tactical change. Defending champions South Africa won 2-0 in Johannesburg to claim a 3-1 aggregate victory and qualify for next year’s Africa Cup of Nations finals in Morocco .
Van Wyk made her international debut against Nigeria in 2005 and was one of the best-known players for the South Africa women’s national team. She played two seasons with Houston Dash in the National Women’s Soccer League and also played for Glasgow City in Scotland. She has her own club in South Africa, JVW FC, where two-time Olympic 800 meters champion Caster Semenya trained in hopes of launching a football career that never materialized.
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