Carol Tshabalala is an award winning South African sports broadcaster and MC who is also known as the "First Lady of Sports."

After 16 years in the industry, Tshabalala is now a sportscaster, producer, and voice-over artist at SuperSport International. She is also a freelance reporter and a live studio anchor at the Barclays Premier League Football Today Live Shows.

Career

2000- 2011

After Carol Tshabala graduated from Krugersdrop High School in 2000, she stepped foot into the industry as a sportscaster for SABC. During her time there she worked as a a voice over artist, television anchor, and a programme director. In 2005 Tshabalala joined Kaya FM 95.9 for about 2 years as a sport news reporter, where she compiled and reported news on the breakfast show. In 2008 she joined Radio 2000 as a drive time sport show host while continued to work as a sportscaster for SABC. Her time with Radio 2000 ended in 2013 but she still stayed with SABC until 2011.

2011- current

In 2011 after 10 years with SABC, Tshabala announced her departure from the broadcaster and joined SuperSport. In an interview with BONA Magazine Tshabala said one of her reasons for leaving was because she felt as if she was not used to her full potential at SABC. Her minor role during the 2010 FIFA World Cup coverage bothered her because it showed that the channel didn’t have enough confidence in her to consider her for such a grand event. In addition to another interview with Times LIVE, Tshabala stated she needed something bigger and global which SuperSport could offer her while SABC at that time had cut their sports coverage.

In June 2016 The First Lady of Sports went global when she joined Barclays Premier League Productions (IMG productions) as a live studio anchor. During her time at there she has anchored numerous Premier Soccer League games and also had the opportunity to interview Chelsea Football Club sensation and one of the most iconic players in the English Premiership, John Obi Mikel, at Stamford Bridge. In addition to her role as a sportscaster, in January of 2017, Tshabalala also had the honour of co-hosting SuperSport's 10 year celebration.

Sports Coverage

Throughout Tshabalala's career she has traveled all over the world to cover numerous sporting events such as the FIFA World Cup (Germany - 2006 and SA - 2010), the Olympic and Paralympic games (Athens - 2004, Beijing - 2008, London - 2012, and Rio- 2016) the Commonwealth Games, the Laureus Sports Awards and other major sport celebrations. In addition to sports coverage, Tshabalala have also wrote scripts, produced, and have hosted various events such as the World Cup draws, FIFA Ballon d'Or, FIFA Congress, conferences, and as well as corporate events.

Achievements

Carol Tshabalala is a very accomplished sportscaster and has won various awards for her work in television and radio.

However, in addition to those awards Tshabalala have also made history numerous times.

In 2002, Tshabalala became the first female sport anchor of a major TV sport show.

She has paved the way for many female sportscasters that came after her by proving that women too can succeed in a industry that was dominated by men.

Tshabalala then later became the first and currently the only African to host the FIFA Ballon d'Or. In 2016, Carol also made history when she joined Premier League and became the only African based presenter at English Premier League sportscasters and among the few women presenters.

Personal Life

At the age of 19 Carol Tshabalala married Solomon Mañana and had two sons Joel, born in 2002 and Solomon, born in 2007.

However, after 6 years the couple divorced.

Tshabalal also has a third son Mpho, who is biologically her nephew.

She took him in and raised him like her own son after his mother (her sister) passed away.

Social Media

In addition to her amazing career, Carol Tshabalala has also built a strong social media presence and a large fan base with 109k followers on Instagram and 224K followers on Twitter. Thousands of people tune in to her social media accounts to see behind the scenes pictures and details of sport events, her adventures, and her day to day life.