Oujda, 7 July 2025, and the defending champions needed a calm head from the spot. Linda Motlhalo stepped up in the 28th minute against Ghana. She scored. Banyana Banyana went on to open their WAFCON defence with a 2-0 win.
A year on, the Glasgow City midfielder has passed 100 caps for South Africa and signed a new club deal. Here is what is actually on the record about her career, her pay and her private life.
| Full name | Linda Maserame Motlhalo |
| Born | 1 July 1998, grew up in Brandvlei, Randfontein |
| Position | Midfielder, winger |
| Current club | Glasgow City, contract to summer 2027 |
| Banyana caps | 100 reached in July 2026 |
| Salary | Not published |
| Marital status | No public record |
Linda Motlhalo husband, partner and children
There is no public record of Motlhalo being married, and she has not named a husband, boyfriend or partner in any interview. Nor has she spoken publicly about having a child.
Searches for her husband are among the most common on this page. Nothing she has said in the press supports any name. When she talks about life away from the pitch, it is almost always about where she comes from: “Brandvlei is a very dusty village where I grew up, where I usually played with the boys,” she told Flashscore during WAFCON 2026.
Family appears in her story through football. Her father, Johannes, tried to make it as a player, and a relative kept goal for Kaizer Chiefs between 1970 and 1985, according to profiles of her career. Beyond that, she keeps things private. This page will only add details she chooses to make public.
Glasgow City, second time round
Her first spell in Scotland began in January 2023 and ended with a league medal.
Glasgow City recall that she supplied the assist for Lauren Davidson's 92nd-minute winner against Rangers that sealed the 2022/23 SWPL title. She then left for Racing Louisville in the NWSL in January 2024, a move that never took off, and the deal was ended by mutual consent before she rejoined the Scottish club in February 2025.
Then, on 28 January 2026, a new deal. It runs to summer 2027. By then she had 71 appearances across both spells, 21 of them that season, including seven in Europe. “I have extended my stay in Glasgow because I have always said that it is a home,” Motlhalo said in the club's announcement. Happiness, she added, was the biggest reason to stay.
The season brought one trophy. City beat Rangers 2-1 in the SWPL Cup final at Fir Park on 29 March 2026. The league slipped away on the final day, with Hearts on 62 points, Rangers on 60 and Glasgow City third on 58. Close, not enough.
Banyana Banyana: 100 caps and two WAFCON campaigns
The 2025 tournament in Morocco, officially the 2024 edition, showed why the South African press call her a penalty specialist. After the opener against Ghana she converted again in the semi-final against Nigeria in Casablanca, levelling in the 60th minute before a stoppage-time goal sent the Super Falcons through 2-1. Banyana then lost the bronze match to Ghana 4-3 on penalties after a 1-1 draw. No medal.
Then came the century.
The milestone arrived at WAFCON 2026, again in Morocco. Motlhalo won her 100th cap in the Group B opener against Tanzania, a 2-1 defeat, and Desiree Ellis's side recovered to reach the quarter-finals before losing 2-1 to the hosts in Rabat on 8 August, which left the 2027 World Cup play-offs as their remaining route to Brazil. Before the tournament she reflected on the journey in an interview with iDiski Times, saying: “It's been a long journey, a lot of ups and downs, but it has been a beautiful one.”
Her record holds plenty of big moments: a goal on debut against Cameroon in 2016, the 2022 WAFCON title won with a 2-1 final victory over Morocco, and a goal against Argentina at the 2023 World Cup. For the wider picture of the side, see our list of Banyana Banyana's all-time top goal scorers and the full Banyana Banyana fixtures list.
Salary and net worth: what is published
No figure has been published.
Glasgow City do not disclose player wages. Neither Motlhalo nor her representatives have put a number on her contract, so any monthly or annual figure circulating online should be treated with caution, including the net worth range that appeared on older versions of this page. The national team is different. After the 2022 WAFCON triumph, SAFA confirmed each player had received a R400,000 bonus, and the government later announced a separate R15 million reward for the squad. Compatriots such as Hildah Magaia face the same gap: in women's football, contracts outside a handful of leagues are rarely made public.
From Brandvlei to four countries
She came through TuksSport High School and JVW before the Houston Dash signed her on 1 February 2018. The Dash later confirmed she made 21 appearances and scored once in her single NWSL season. One year, then gone.
China came next, with Beijing BG Phoenix. Then Sweden. At Djurgården her teammates voted her Newcomer of the Year after her first season.
The nickname “Randfontein Ronaldinho” has followed her throughout. Ellis prefers another word. “I call Linda the magician,” the Banyana coach said.
At 28, Motlhalo has a contract in Glasgow, a century of caps and a World Cup play-off campaign ahead. “When I play football, I forget my problems. It's my joy, it's my happiness,” she said.
This article was most recently revised and updated 5 hours ago
