Nomvula Kgoale

"Extremely difficult, I'm gonna be honest, we all know as athletes, it's very, very difficult to come back from an injury. For the most part, it knocks down the mental side of things but I had to be tough on myself and be like, you gotta get back into the game, that's what I love to do."

"Personally, it has been talked about for so many years that women's football needs to be professionalised, but at this point, I am going to reserve my comments and will only believe it when I see it practically happening. I've heard it mentioned so many times that I don't believe anything they say about the intention anymore."

"Indeed, as female footballers, we do value education highly because it's simple: We are not paid enough to make a living out of the game, whereas our male counterparts can play, say, for 10 or even five years and make enough money in order to make a living if they use their funds properly. So, there is a huge gap in terms of we know that we are not being paid well and the money that we make cannot sustain us for the rest of our lives or for a longer period of time, so we opt to navigate towards education. That is so that we are able to secure full-time jobs on the side, or even after football. We need that more than our male counterparts."

"I own it because it gives me so much pride in being a woman in a space mostly deemed as a men's sport."

"Oh, I love those people. They treat me like a human being – like a girl. Let me tell you when we go and do shoots, they just hire a whole makeup crew to pamper me and I love that."

"I love the face beats, lipsticks, eyelashes – just everything about it. I love everything about it. You know what, Puma, let’s just end it there because I can just go on and on about Puma!"

"Life has been amazing, spending time with my family and that’s what I’ve been longing for many years, as you know as a professional athlete you travel a lot ... you don’t get time to sit down. I don’t know if players talk about it, I’m taking time to take care of my mental health."

"When I talk about mental health, I’m not saying I wanted to kill myself. You get tired as a person, that’s why there is sick leave, and people go on vacations, I needed that."

"There are many things that go on that people from the outside don’t understand, but as a person I understand myself, I know how I operate, I know when I need a break, I know when I’m having a breakdown, I know when my body says 'no' and when it says 'yes', so I have to listen to it."

"Before achieving everything that we achieved, we set goals and said this is what we want at this time. And we achieved everything, every goal that was set."

"Development is key. 100%."

"I demand more of myself and my teammates. I want to win things – this is where my teammates and I are supposed to show up. This is where we are supposed to show the world who we are, right?"

"I command and organise when needed. I also understand the need to encourage and push the team to stay on top of our game."

"Barriers are only in the mind. If you truly want something, do whatever it takes. Invest in yourself if you’re not getting the support you desire."

"There is always something that feels unfulfilled when I wake up."

"I’ve got something to do on this planet and whatever that purpose is keeps me going."

"It is extremely important to be mentally tough."