Botswana’s 30-goal ‘Neymar’ achieves rare feat
Kabelo Boranabi | Friday September 5, 2025 12:04
She is on the trail of Mares' forward, Refilwe Tholakele who won the Golden Boot at the CAF Women’s Champions League finals in 2023 with five goals. The Gaborone United Ladies talisman or Red Roses’ Neymar, as she’s affectionately called has firmly cemented herself as Botswana’s premier goal-scorer, topping charts in every competition she touches.
The 25-year-old forward continued her remarkable run at the recently concluded 2025 CAF Women’s Champions League COSAFA qualifiers in South Africa, where Gaborone United emerged triumphant.
Entering the regional spectacle, Neymar was riding the form of her life, a goal-scoring machine already lighting up domestic competitions.
In the Gaborone Region Division 1 league, she finished as the top scorer with 13 goals, showcasing her uncanny ability to find the net in any situation.
Her heroics continued at the national finals, where she added nine goals in just two games, guiding GU to the DTCB Women’s Championship and earning her side a ticket to the CAF qualifiers.
With 22 goals across local competitions, Neymar’s name was firmly etched as the region’s deadliest forward.
The CAF qualifiers saw a mix of highs and challenging moments. Ontlametse was goalless in the opening clash against Young Buffaloes, but bounced back spectacularly against Kick4Life of Lesotho in the final group stage match, netting five goals.
In the semi-final against CD Costa do Sol, she added a brace, taking her tournament tally to seven goals, though she could not break through in the tense final against ZESCO Ndola Girls.
With seven goals in four matches, she became the first Motswana woman to claim the top scorer title in a regional competition, bringing her total across all editions to 13. The tally made her the competition’s all-time leading scorer, another first for a Motswana player.
Ontlametse’s exploits are not only measured in numbers but in sheer impact. Whilst male counterparts like Thabang Sesinyi, who recently hit 100 Premier League goals, and Tumisang Orebonye, with his CAF Confederation and Super Cup medals, enjoy acclaim, Neymar’s numbers, both domestic and continental, place her in a league of her own.
Former Zebras forward, Jerome Ramatlhakwana, netted four at the COSAFA Cup to clinch the golden boot, a local first. Onkabetse Mankgantai also achieved the feat in 2018.
Although not a regular starter for the Mares, Ontlametse' cameo against Tunisia in the WAFCON group stages was decisive, as she scored the winner in the dying minutes with a trademark calm finish inside the box.
That strike brought her season tally across club and country to an astounding 30 goals, a record feat for any striker in Botswana.
Ontlametse’s awards and accolades continue to pile up. She claimed the Golden Boot at the 2025 CAF Women’s Champions League COSAFA qualifiers, was a top scorer in the DTCB Women’s Championship, and consistently leads goal charts in the Gaborone Region Division 1.
Coaches and teammates alike praise her work ethic, composure under pressure, and ability to score in crucial moments, cementing her status as a deadly forward.
From Double Action Ladies to Gaborone United, she has grown from a promising talent into a continental goal-scoring powerhouse.
As she prepares for the 2025 CAF Women’s Champions League finals, all eyes will be on Red Roses’ Neymar.
With 30 goals this season alone and an ever-growing legacy, Gaonyadiwe Ontlametse is not just Botswana’s best striker, she is a benchmark, a statement, and a goal-scoring phenomenon whose rise shows no signs of slowing down.