Leandra Smeda honoured as 2025 HWBSL Player of the Season

The TS Galaxy striker was among the big winners at the 2025 Hollywoodbets Super League Awards ceremony held in Johannesburg on Sunday, also claiming the Top Goalscorer award after finishing the season with 22 goals.

Speaking to SABC Sport, Smeda says the accolades have motivated her to maintain her good form heading into the new season.

"I am excited about being awarded Player of the Season. It shows that the hard work throughout the season has paid off, and it's also motivating me to put in the work for the new season. Hopefully, I can retain the title, but we will see. I also want to give a shoutout to my teammates for all the support, it's only through them that I could achieve this."

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Smeda joined the TS Galaxy Queens at the beginning of their 2025 campaign to help the team retain their spot within the Super League top three. She unpacks her first season with the Mpumalanga outfit.

"It has been really good at TS Galaxy. I got to play with some of my friends whom I played with at the national team, so it has been really good and exciting. I settled in well at the team. This award is motivating me to go out there and push hard and try to retain the top goalscorer title as well as Player of the Season title."

The veteran striker further praised her teammate Dineo Magagula for winning the Goalkeeper of the Year Award and shared words of encouragement to the entire squad going into the 2026 season.

"She had a really good season, and I would like to congratulate her. The defence played a huge part in her keeping all the clean sheets, so to the team good job ladies we need to go into the new season with the same energy, try to get more clean sheets, score more goals and avoid draws, beccause I think that is what killed us in the past season."