Refiloe Jane only started playing for a ladies’ team when she was 14 years old. From the first time her feet touched the soccer ball, almost a decade earlier, she had played with boys only.
This, perhaps, was not surprising. Jane had grown up with two older brothers, and for as long as she could remember, she always wondered how the pair spent their day when they left their family’s home in Pimville, Soweto.
Every day, Jane would watch as they rose with the sun, disappearing for periods of time that bewildered her five-year-old mind. What was this demanding hobby that stole her brothers from her and drove them away home so early every morning?
One day, as they set off on their mysterious daily adventures, she decided to tail them and discover exactly what they got up to.
“My brothers triggered that because I used to wonder every morning where exactly they woke up to go. One morning, I followed them to training, and that’s when I saw what they did, and I wanted to play too,” she told FARPost.
Although she did not know it, that morning as she shadowed her brothers on the dusty streets of Soweto, she was on her way to discover a game that would eventually sweep her away from the humble streets of Pimville and deposit her in the streets of the world’s fashion capital, Milan.
When Jane’s feet met a soccer ball, it was love at first touch. From that morning, a new and passionate romance was ignited, and when she caressed the ball, she understood why her brothers woke up with the earliest of morning birds.
REFILOE JANE PLAYED THE GAME WITH BOYS
“I started kicking the ball when I was very young, around five years old. It was an awesome experience because I got to feel what my brothers felt every time they went to train and play. Both my brothers played with me in the yard in Pimville,” says the first South African woman to play in the Italian topflight.
Football is a man’s game, the popular adage goes, but for a five-year-old Jane, this statement simply did not ring true. She played the game with two boys, her brothers, in the backyard. This, for her, was not enough. As she began to impress on the football pitch, coaches soon wanted her on their teams, never mind the fact that she was the “wrong gender”.
“I did not expect Refiloe [when I gave birth]. She took almost four years to start talking,” says her proud mother, Nomvula Jane.
“Coaches started coming to our home seeking out Refiloe at a young age. One day, as an angry mother, I challenged them, asking ‘Why, for heaven’s sake, do you keep asking for Refiloe? Do you know she’s a girl? I have two boys in the house.’ But they wanted Refiloe, and from the age of 10, ‘Fifi’ was constantly out of the house either training or playing.”
Just over a year after she spoke her first words, ‘Fifi’ was now rubbing shoulders with five and six-year-old boys at Thebe Stars, the club where she initially cut her teeth. She would soon move to Juventus, another boys’ club in Pimville.
JOINING PIMVILLE FAST XI
The Banyana Banyana star would not get to play with other girls until she was 14, when she turned out for Pimville Fast XI. Having spent so many years playing with boys, she had grown to know that as “normal”. A lone girl amongst boys, she never felt out of place or under pressure to justify her admittedly odd presence.
“I never felt pressure because I had all the support from management and the players. They never really treated me as a girl, and they believed in my capabilities. The respect I got from all the boys’ teams I played for made it difficult for me to want to play for girls. I would always choose playing for a boys’ team over a girls’ team,” she says.
Although still very much a child, the 33-year-old midfielder was already discovering the high demands placed on football players. Late nights and early mornings became a new reality for the girl from Pimville.
“I remember when she was at Mamelodi Sundowns, we used to wait on the street corner until 11 in the evening for her return from training,” Nomvula remembers.
Despite her mother’s reservations and anger at the pursuit of her little girl by gaffers in charge of all-boys junior teams, her daughter acknowledges the support her family gave her during those days. The worry, the stress, the early mornings, and late nights would all eventually pay off.
“My whole family played an important role by supporting my dream; they never stopped me from going to training or games, even though at times I would be back at home around 23h00. I would always find them waiting for me at the bus stop,” she says.
THE ROUTE TO AC MILAN
Her route to Milan went via Vaal University of Technology and Tshwane University of Technology, and, looking back, she also gives credit to her teachers for helping her strike the very delicate balance that saw her juggle football with her studies.
“My coaches and teachers also played an important role by helping me balance education with football. My best friend and partner also played an important role in keeping me on my toes and supporting me through football and education. And all the teams I played for had an impact on shaping my future,” she says.
Playing with boys for so long had taken Jane out of her comfort zone, showing her bravery and a desire to give more than what was actually demanded of her.
After she triumphed in a skills test competition at the Gauteng Future Champs, she would once again be taken out of her comfort zone as victory took her to Manchester, where she would again be tested. What she learnt on that gruelling trip would change her life and career forever.
“Training with Man City ladies during the day and Everton Ladies at night opened my eyes to what it takes to play at the highest level. Coming from that trip, I was never the same person.”
That sojourn further ignited her dreams of plying her trade overseas.
“After my experience in Manchester, I told myself that’s where I am headed. I never played football the same anymore, and by the Grace of the Almighty, things are looking good,” she says.
She remains one of the few players who can claim to have played the game at the highest level on three continents.
JANE PLAYED THE GAME ON THREE CONTINENTS
In Africa, she turned out for Colechester Ladies in Eldorado Park after leaving Pimville Fast XI. She then moved to Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies, then Vaal University, before taking her skills to Tshwane University of Technology. In Australia, she plied her trade for Canberra United before settling with European giants AC Milan in 2019. Despite her extensive experiences playing around the world, the open-minded ace accepts that Milan presents a new challenge for her.
“At AC Milan, we focused more on tactics. And the style of play from the Italians is different to what I’ve experienced anywhere else in the world,” she says.
Despite all her achievements at club level, Milan’s former number 15 singles out her participation in the FIFA Women’s World Cup with Banyana as one of her greatest achievements. Two Olympic appearances and back-to-back COSAFA Cup titles also rank high in her list of achievements.
In the prime of her career, that girl who fell in love with the soccer ball at the age of five went on to play for Sassuolo. Thereafter, she returned home to turn out for TS Galaxy Queens.
On Tuesday, June 9, 2026, she earned her 150th cap for Banyana Banyana during a 1-0 international friendly victory over Japan in Osaka—a milestone that continues to inspire a generation of young girls to push limits and dare to be different.
“My biggest dream is to continue giving hope, touching and changing lives by all means I can,” she says.
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