6 July 2017 Former Banyana Banyana star, Maude Khumalo is determined to be one of the best coaches to come out of the country. This follows the former defender’s heroic exploits of being the first ever female coach to guide a men’s team into the SAB League promotional play offs.

Upon retiring, Khumalo heeded to the call of coaching and joined the TUT Soshanguve campus in 2015 where they finished in the top eight bracket. In just a year, Khumalo guided the club to second place where they narrowly missed out on promotion.

Rectifying all the mistakes they made the previous year, the coach is now on the verge of making history and qualifying for the SAB League after clinching the league title with 21 wins, four losses and a single draw in 26 games to qualify for the promotional play off set to take place this weekend.

Speaking to SAFA.net ahead of the play offs this weekend, the coach played down the fact that she is a woman and said that people shouldn’t even care about gender in this day and age.

“Yes, it is unusual for a woman to coach a men’s team but I believe I should be solely judged by my work and people shouldn’t be surprised that I am doing well as a woman. I am not here to compete but want to showcase my knowledge of the game which has nothing to do with my gender” said Khumalo.

The former Banyana Banyana footballer who wanted to be a professional psychologist believes her involvement in community football as a coach is substitute enough for what she wanted to be come.

“Even though I am not yet a physcologist, I believe coaching helps me change and make a difference in the lives of young people in my community”

In the past few months, Khumalo has also been assistant to Banyana Banyana interim head coach Desiree Ellis.