Kaizer Chiefs Ladies’ Unathi Mabena: ‘I Wanted to Become the Coach I Never Had’

She grew up in Katlehong, on the East Rand of Johannesburg, kicking a ball in the dusty streets with the boys of her neighbourhood. The love of football found her all on its own.

What Unathi Mabena could not have known then is that those streets would lead her to a touchline that would make history. In March 2026, she became the first ever head coach of Kaizer Chiefs Ladies, stepping into one of the most significant moments in South African women’s club football. It is, she says quietly, something she never dared to imagine.

“It was honestly a dream come true, something that never, never in my life I thought would ever happen. People always say we plan and God decides, and yes, I believe so. When the time is right, He will make it happen. I guess this was the right time for it to happen.”

Kaizer Chiefs Ladies Inaugural Head Coach, Unathi Mabena

The moment that changed Unathi’s trajectory was a small one. A coach spotted her playing in the streets of Katlehong, and what he saw was worth investing in. From there, she moved into structured football, learning the game in a classroom before applying theory on the field.

Her playing career at JVW FC, the club founded by South African football legend Janine van Wyk, brought a new level of organisation to her football education and introduced her to what a properly built women’s football environment could look like. It was there that a very specific ambition began to form.

“When I was playing, prior to being at JVW, I was only ever coached by males. It was from then that I started to say, ‘I want to become the coach that I never had’, who is first and foremost female, but who also understands a lot about the female body, and so forth. I wanted to bring that to the young ladies that I coach.”

That determination shaped every step that followed. After her playing days, Unathi progressed from youth coach to senior assistant coach at JVW in the Hollywoodbets Super League, and later worked with South African national junior teams alongside two coaches, Simphiwe Dludlu and Nthabeleng Modiko, whose attention to detail she credits as among the most formative experiences of her career.

“The attention to detail that they put to everything is one of the things that I have taken from them, which I am now trying to implement in everything that I do. Pay attention to the small details that some people may overlook.”

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She holds both a UEFA B Licence and the CAF A Licence, the latter recently completed, qualifying her to sit on the bench at any CAF tournament across the continent and placing her among an elite group of women on the African continent to hold that qualification.

“It is an honour and a privilege to be holding such a certification. But the hard work does not stop. It only starts now, because you are looking to apply everything that you have learned in the CAF A Licence to make yourself a better coach and also a mentor to the up-and-coming coaches who are behind us.”

This edition of the gsport Newsletter is themed around leadership, and on that subject Unathi offers a definition that is both unexpected and deeply considered.

“Leadership for me is being able to be led more so than leading. It is being a mentor to anyone who looks up to you. It is being able to open up and be transparent with your colleagues and your athletes, being there for them through anything that they are going through, be it personal, be it on the field. It is just being that ear that they look for when the chips are down.”

This philosophy shapes how she works with her squad of 24, a carefully constructed blend of experience and youth. Veteran midfielder Mamello Makhabane anchors the experienced group, while junior internationals Katlego Mohale and Zanele Kunyamane represent the next generation she is building around.

“I look at them as people, before the athlete, which is the important thing, because you may miss the point if you are only looking at the athlete and not the person, per se. You have to learn your athletes in order to get the best out of them.”

Among the leaders who have shaped her own thinking, she counts Dr Desiree Ellis and Dr Pitso Mosimane as inspirations for what they have built and what they continue to represent for the game in South Africa.

Kaizer Chiefs’ decision to enter through the Gauteng Sasol League rather than purchasing an existing Hollywoodbets Super League club was, in Unathi’s view, both strategically sound and personally valuable to her own development.

“It gives the team time to build a formidable foundation so that we are able to build for the future. We are not coming into the league just to be a number in the league. We endeavour to compete at the highest level against any opposition.”

Her target is promotion to the Hollywoodbets Super League within two to three seasons, with patience as the guiding principle.

“If it happens sooner, it is a bonus for us, but we do not want to put ourselves under pressure. We just want to stabilise ourselves in the league first.”

Playing home matches at the Kaizer Chiefs Village in Naturena and KwaThema Stadium in Springs places the team in the communities from which its roots grow, a connection Unathi considers central to the club’s mission.

“Growing up on the East Rand was the best thing for me. We want to continue bringing out young and up-and-coming stars from that area, to help get kids off the streets and into sport.”

The arrival of Brima Logistics as the club’s first sponsor is a signal she hopes the broader corporate world will follow. “To other corporates, I would like for them also to come on board, not just to Kaizer Chiefs, but to other teams and to the league as well. We need as much corporate sponsorship as we can to uplift women’s football within South Africa.”

To fans who have not yet watched women’s football live, she extends a simple and open invitation. “Watch the game. You will enjoy what women’s football brings, but you will also enjoy the environment because it is more of a family-oriented space where you can bring your children. Come out and watch and you will be surprised at what you will see.”

For the young girl watching from the stands in Daveyton or Springs or Naturena, daring to imagine herself on that touchline one day, Unathi Mabena speaks directly and from deep personal experience.

“I want them to envision themselves on that field or on that touchline one day. To know that it is achievable, to know that it is doable. I came from the dusty streets of Katlehong to where I am right now. It was something I never thought would happen, but hard work, commitment, and dedication leads you to greater things, greater things than you would have never thought for yourself.”

And if that entire journey can be distilled into a single sentence for the next generation of women who want to lead in sport, Unathi Mabena does not hesitate.

“It is possible. Anything is possible. If you put your mindset to it, it is all possible.”

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Main Photo Caption: Unathi Mabena, the first-ever head coach of Kaizer Chiefs Ladies, brings her experience as a player, youth coach, and senior assistant coach at JVW FC to one of the most historic appointments in South African women’s club football. All Photos: Suppliedse

Photo 2 Caption: Unathi Mabena holds both the UEFA B Licence and the CAF A Licence, placing her among an elite group of women coaches in Africa.

Photo 3 Caption: A lifelong Kaizer Chiefs fan, Unathi Mabena calls her appointment as inaugural head coach of the Ladies team a dream come true.

Photo 4 Caption: Pictured during her playing years with JVW FC, Mabena says she looks at her players as people, building culture and cohesion from the ground up.

Photo 5 Caption: Unathi Mabena invites South Africa to come and watch women’s football, and to believe that anything is possible.

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