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One moment, Thinasonke “Thina” Mbuli is barking instructions from the technical area as head coach of the University of the Western Cape (UWC) Ladies football team. The next, she is on national team duty with Banyana Banyana, where she serves as an assistant to head coach Desiree Ellis.
Mbuli was in camp with Banyana Banyana in Bloemfontein this month, plotting against Madagascar in the back-to-back 2028 Olympic qualifying matches on Friday, 9 October 2026 at 15h00 and Tuesday, 13 October 2026 at 18h00. Both fixtures were played at the Free State Stadium.
She joined the national team camp after making the long journey to the Free State capital just hours after guiding UWC in a Hollywoodbets Super League fixture in Gqeberha, Eastern Cape on Saturday, 3 October 2026.
By her own admission, wearing two hats comes with its challenges. But balancing club and country responsibilities has become an important part of her football journey.
Mbuli believes being in charge at club level gives her valuable insight and an ideal perspective from which to monitor players across the league.
Born in Mkhondo, formerly known as Piet Retief, Mpumalanga, she was appointed head coach of the UWC women’s football team in February 2019.
She has been part of the Banyana Banyana technical team since 2018 and was involved when South Africa won their maiden Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) title in 2022. Mbuli also boasts a WAFCON runners-up medal from the 2018 tournament.
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Her tenure at UWC has coincided with some of the most successful years in the club’s history.
The 2024 season, in particular, will go down as one of the club’s best, with UWC finishing runners-up in the Hollywoodbets Super League and making their debut in the CAF Women’s Champions League.
Mbuli, who holds a CAF A coaching licence and a Sports Management degree from the Durban University of Technology, has built UWC Ladies around young players, with the squad averaging between 16 and 18 years of age.
The Cape-based side has also consistently supplied players to Banyana Banyana, with five UWC players drafted into the latest camp: captain Fikile Magama, Zoe October, Lonathemba Mhlongo, Antonia Maponya and Sinegugu Zondi.
At 18, October was Banyana Banyana’s youngest squad member at this year’s WAFCON in Morocco.
Ellis has also praised the quality of young players emerging from the Hollywoodbets Super League and stressed the importance of rewarding players who are in form, citing University of Pretoria talismanic striker Siyamthanda Qashani as an example.
Qashani is currently the league’s leading scorer with eight goals. Ahead of the first leg, the task for South Africa was to secure a positive result to ease the pressure ahead of the return fixture.
No fans were allowed at Friday’s match at Madagascar’s request, as the Islanders were the designated home team.
Madagascar used the Free State Stadium as their home venue because facilities in their country do not meet the required standards to host an international match.
Ellis urged fans to come out in big numbers on Tuesday when Banyana Banyana took their turn as hosts.
Banyana Banyana won the first leg 4-0 and completed the job on Tuesday with a 3-0 win in the return leg, sealing a 7-0 aggregate victory and a place in the next round of qualifying.
After the FIFA international break Mbuli stays in Mangaung for the resumption of the Hollywoodbets Super League festival hosted at the Dr Petrus Molemela Stadium, where she must plot Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies’ first defeat with her UWC team on Saturday, 17 October 2026 at 15h00.
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This match is highly anticipated in the Super Era stream as UWC look to overtake Tuks Ladies and occupy second spot. The clash will be live on SABC.
It is the shape of Mbuli’s season in miniature: a national camp one week, a fixture with the league standings at stake the next, and a group of young players moving between the two. For a coach who sees her club role as the ideal vantage point on the league, the double duty is not a distraction. It is the work itself.
Original Copy: SAFA, with editing by gsport
Main Photo Caption: Thinasonke Mbuli, part of the technical team behind Banyana Banyana’s 2022 WAFCON title and head coach of University of the Western Cape Ladies, joins five of her young UWC players in the national camp as assistant to Desiree Ellis for the 2028 Olympic qualifiers, at the Free State Stadium in Bloemfontein on Friday, 9 October 2026. All Photos: SAFA
Photo 2 Caption: Mkhondo-born Mbuli holds a CAF A coaching licence and has served on the Banyana Banyana technical team since 2018.
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