Buffaloes Ladies officially crowned WFL champions
MBABANE – Young Buffaloes Ladies were officially crowned champions of the 2021/2022 Women’s Football League during a glamorous event held at Sigwaca House on Tuesday evening.
The domestic league champions bagged E20 000, 25 gold medals and a trophy. The army side boast a historic record of 221 goals in their league campaign. They remain the only team to register a clean sheet.
They amassed a whopping 72 points. Their goalkeeper Sukoluhle Sibandze was unbeatable as she never conceded a single goal in their 24 fixtures.
By virtue of being champions, Buffaloes earned a ticket to the 2022 Council of Women Football Associations (COSAFA) Women’s Champions League. They face Zambia’s Green Buffaloes on August 7, 2022 at Sugar Ray Xulu Stadium. Buffaloes are optimistic of qualifying for the TotalEnergies CAF Women’s Champions
League to be played in Morocco later this year.
The runners-up, Royal Leopard’s manager Xolile Dlamini received 25 silver medals on behalf of her team that collected 61 points from 20 victories, one draw and three defeats. Elangeni were the bronze medalists after finishing third with 55 points.
The 13 women teams were all winners at the end as none of them went home-empty handed, thanks to the
league’s main sponsor, Eswatini Football Association.
Eswatini Women’s Football Association (EWFA) Chairman Bonginkosi Mhlanga congratulated the champions for their gallant league performance and commended the competition that was presented by the other teams. He further appealed to EFA for an increment of the sponsorship next season to develop women’s football.
Money
“We appreciate the EFA increasing the prize money despite the high inflation rate and we request them to reconsider the transport fees for the teams as this has proven to be a challenge. Congratulations to Young Buffaloes who have a challenging task ahead and we believe that they will represent us well as they start their COSAFA competition next week,” Mhlanga said.
EFA President Peter ‘Samora’ Simelane declared his dedication to the development of women’s football and assured a positive response to the sponsorship increment and that of the incentives with the support of relevant stakeholders. EFA has already paid Buffaloes’ participation fee of over E100 000.