National Team Captain in Charge of Football Academy

When South Africa participated in the women’s World Cup in France last month, Janine van Wyk, captained the South African national team. This week the blond defender will stand on the side line, when the academy named after her, participates in Dana Cup in G17.
Janine van Wyk founded JVW Academy in 2012, because she waned to give talented girls an opportunity to develop their football skills.

‘Football for girls is not very common in South Africa, but things are moving in the right direction. Many talented girls, who start very young, play with the boys but when they get a little bit older, they usually have to stop because there are no teams for them. Now we have succeeded in establishing a tournament with 1.600 players from the schools in the Gauteng province, including Johannesburg. Naturally, we dream of creating a national tournament, but we lack funding at the moment. We need sponsors and attention from the business community but, unfortunately, nobody wants to invest in girls’ football in South Africa,’ Janine van Wyk explains.

The 32-year-old footballer is a bright example of a talented footballer that can succeed in South Africa. Janine van Wyk started playing football when she was five. She played her first match for the national team when she was 18 years old and, moreover, she was given flowers when she had played 150 games for the national team.

In 2016 she signed with Houston Dash that plays in the National Women’s Soccer League in the USA.