Former South African Women’s National Team captain, Amanda Dlamini made history on Wednesday, 17 January 2024 becoming the first woman to commentate a football match at a CAF Africa Cup of Nations competition.
Her first game was Morocco vs Tanzania in San Pedro’s Stade Laurent Pokou during Group F’s official opening rounds of fixtures.
Dlamini played in two TotalEnergies CAF Women’s Africa Cup of Nations competitions where they finished third and second in 2010 and 2012 respectively. She is one of the few footballers, both in the men and women’s national teams to reach 100 caps (She retired with 105 caps).
An emotional Dlamini said: “I knew it was the biggest day of my life to do a Men’s CAF Africa Cup of Nations. When I was told I will be commentating at AFCON, I was very overwhelmed but had to try keep calm. I didn’t want it to get to my head because of how emotional the feeling was. I’m hoping this historic moment opens more doors for many other women to believe in their abilities and talents.”
The South Africa captain grew up watching the TotalEnergies CAF Africa Cup of Nations on TV in her rural village in KwaZulu Natal.
“I was actually reminiscing with colleagues about how my parents used to go refill the car battery so we could watch Bafana Bafana games in 1996. I remember an incident where my mother burntuphuthu (Traditional staple meal) twice when SA (South Africa) won the tournament because it was so intense. I remember my dad picking me up and tossing me in the air after the final whistle,” she laughs.
Dlamini is no stranger to the commentary box. Since retiring, she has since been an analyst on SuperSport for local and also CAF Inter-Club matches. In 2022, she joined the team of CAF Analysts for the TotalEnergies CAF Women’s Africa Cup of Nations 2022 in Morocco.
On her style of commentary, Dlamini says she enjoys sharing the back stories of the teams as well as their aspirations.
“I enjoy the back stories of teams. Their objectives especially the coaches’ thoughts and preparation. Then it’s comparing starting line ups, formations and getting individual stats on players as they are world class players across the world. And then it’s pronunciations of players names and surnames (laughs).”
“My job is thorough and requires focus on analysis, patterns and the behaviour of players while they try executing the game plan. Tactics and formations are a passion for me, which is where I would like to further advance myself in the future in addition to commentary.
