VAN WYK COMPLETES UEFA B LICENCE

JVW Founder and Banyana Banyana defender, Janine van Wyk is over the moon following her completion of the UEFA B Coaching Licence with the Scottish Football Association.

Like many footballers, she knows that her playing days will not last forever and she decided to equip herself with her coaching badges during her time in Scotland.

As the Co-founder of JVW Girls Football Program, boasting the JVW Football Club and JVW Girls School League, she started with the club team in the Sasol League in 2013 and was also guiding from the bench, alongside former Head Coach Ciara Picco, when they won promotion to the highest level of South African Women’s football – the Hollywoodbets Super League in 2019. Van Wyk also served as a Player-Coach in the teams 2016 Gauteng Sasol League Victory, where the team qualified for the Champs but lost 1-0 to Bloem Celtic in the Final of the National League Championships.

Van Wyk played with JVW FC in the 2022 Hollywoodbets Super League after wining the Scottish Women’s League with Glasgow City in 2021, having featured in the UEFA Womens Champions League group Matches.

The avid centre back has been a long serving representative of South Africa with the Junior and Senior National Teams and is the highest capped South African player in the country – both male and female – and highest capped female player in Africa, with 183 appearances for Banyana Banyana, whom she helped to their maiden AWCON title earlier this year as well as the first ever participation in the FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2019. Van Wyk was also part of the team participating in back to back Olympic Games in 2012 and 2016. Van Wyk has captained the Senior Women’s National team since 2012, and has been a co-captain together with Refiloe Jane and others since 2021. In 2017, She was the first South African to be signed to the NWSL (USA), and also played in Denmark, Scotland and now Greece with Ergotelis WFC, in their top flight women’s football league.

Van Wyk started her UEFA B Licence in 2020 while she was playing with Glasgow City, and became a successful B licence holder in 2022.

“It’s really important to know as a player what it is that you want to do after playing football. For someone like myself who has been in football for so many years, it’s a field I would love to continue in and I know many former footballers who are now sports administrators, sports anchors, presenters or even coaches. Football isn’t easy to just give up on and walk away from completely. I have been coaching part time when I was still in South Africa, both at club and school level, and it is a passion of mine, besides just playing.” said Van Wyk

“In time, and when I am finished playing, I will obviously look to complete my UEFA A licence and then UEFA Pro along the way. This is the next step for me after my playing career.”