Inaugural Cosafa Women’s Champions League draw to take place
THE draw for the inaugural Cosafa Women’s Champions League is set to take place in Johannesburg on Thursday from 11am.
The draw will be streamed live on the Cosafa website (www.cosafa. tv).
The tournament is set to take place between August 26-September 4 and the host city will also be unveiled.
The tournament will feature the top domestic women’s football teams from the Cosafa region including South Africa’s Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies team, Double Action Ladies, Manzini Wanderers LFC, Lesotho Defence Force, Turu Magic, Green Buffaloes and Black Rhino Queens.
The winner of the competition will advance to the first ever Total CAF Women’s Champions League which is due to commence later in the year.
The tournament is a huge boost to women’s football development in Africa and Southern Africa which still lacks in terms of resources and funding as compared to men’s football.
Increased awareness towards women’s football development has been raised due to Banyana Banyana having achieved more consistent results in international football than Bafana Bafana over the past several
years.
Considering South Africa’s success in the Cosafa Women’s Championship, which is the Southern African showpiece for international women’s teams from the region, Sundowns will go into the tournament as one of the favourites.
Banyana Banyana are record seven-time holders of the Cosafa Women’s Championship and have won the last three editions of the tournament dating back to 2018.
However, it must be also understood that the dynamics of the tournament may be different from the Women’s Championship as several of Banyana’s top players play their club football abroad and so will not be eligible to help Sundowns win the tournament.
“We are delighted to be hosting the first ever Cosafa Women’s Champions League, which has been a competition we had been hoping to add to our calendar for some time,” Cosafa General Secretary Sue Destombes said.
“Women’s football is certainly coming on in leaps and bounds in Africa and we are excited to be playing our part in that. We certainly see this as a competition that will grow much bigger in the years to come and will be a fantastic platform for our players in the region.”