Banyana Banyana defender Maponya chooses navy career over full-time football

Antonia Maponya says she has no plans to give up her career as a South African Navy lieutenant for a professional football contract, insisting that the balance between sport and work suits her long-term ambitions.

The 26-year-old defender is employed full-time in the SA Navy’s human resources department in Cape Town, while also playing for the University of Western Cape (UCT) in the Hollywoodbets Super League.

South Africa’s top women’s division remains semi-professional, a situation many players and supporters in Mzansi have criticised as they continue to call for a fully professional league. For Maponya, however, the current structure allows her to continue playing football while building a career outside the game.

Maponya is part of the Banyana Banyana squad in Morocco for their troubled Women’s Africa Cup of Nations campaign. Speaking at the team’s hotel in Casablanca on Wednesday, she explained why she would prefer to remain in her present position rather than pursue professional football abroad.

“It’s a matter of what I want for myself. I think the life I am living now is the life I chose, and I think I am fine with it, so I’d rather keep it this way,” Maponya said in an interview at Banyana’s team hotel in Casablanca on Wednesday.

“Not to say it in a bad way, but I have my job for the next 33 years [before she retires], and if I go play professional football somewhere, there’s going to be a very early age where I am going to stop playing.

“I want a life that’s going to keep challenging me as long as I am still alive. How I have structured my life is that I want a life that has a balance of both; sports and corporate.”

Maponya, who was born in Limpopo, acknowledged that maintaining both careers requires a demanding schedule.

“I work from 7am to 4pm, and from 4.30pm I am at training, and Friday after work I have to fly to wherever we play and come back Saturday,” Maponya shared.

“I do my recovery on Sunday and on Monday I am back to work… that’s my life. It’s very difficult but it’s a matter of managing it well, as it’s something that I wanted,” she said.

Her career in the navy began in 2022, the same year she made her Banyana Banyana debut. Maponya had studied human resources at the University of Western Cape, where she graduated in 2021, and applied to join the navy because she wanted to work in the field.

“My career in the SA Navy started in 2022. Mind you, that’s the year I made my Banyana debut as well,” Maponya said.

“I applied there because I’ve always wanted to do something in HR because that’s what I studied [at UWC, where she graduated in 2021].

“So luckily I got in and I had to put my football journey on hold a bit when I was undergoing the training for eight months until I resumed football mid-2023.”

Banyana Banyana will face long-standing rivals Nigeria in Casablanca on Thursday as they compete for one of CAF’s two places in the intercontinental play-offs for next year’s World Cup.

The match will be played at Moulay Rachid Stadium in Casablanca and is scheduled to kick off at 22:00 South Africa time.

Ndebele is in Morocco courtesy of Banyana’s sponsor, Sasol.