CAF Women’s Champions League: Tshabalala aims to reclaim title
With the CAF Women’s Champions League set to kick off in a matter of days, coach of inaugural edition champions Mamelodi Sundowns,Jerry Tshabalala has declared that the mission of his team is to reclaim the title.
The third edition of Africa’s premier women’s club football takes centre stage between 05 – 19 November, where eight clubs from across the continent will battle it out for the prestigious title of being crowned Queens of African women’s club football.
Winners of the inaugural edition (2021), Mamelodi Sundowns are on a serious mission of reclaiming the title they lost to Morocco’s AS Far.
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This is according to their coach, Jerry Tshabalala who says the mission in Cote d’Ivoire is clear, and it is nothing else but to reclaim continental glory in reference to the title they surrendered to the Moroccan champions.
Tshabalala, who masterminded the historic 2021 achievement in Egypt spoke to CAFOnline ahead of their trip to the western end of the continent, where they have been drawn in a tricky Group A consisting of tournament hosts, Athletic FC d’Abidjan, SC Casablanca of Morocco as well as Tanzania’s JKT Queens. Despite challenges posed by other contenders, Tshabalala remains optimistic that Sundowns will weather the storm to emerge champs again.
“As much as people say we are favourites, I don’t think it puts us under too much pressure. For this this competition, we really want to go back there and reclaim the glory!
We just want to prove that we are still one of the best teams on the continent. It wasn’t a fluke for us to win the inaugural competition. In every competition that we go into, we go in there to win it. We are not just going there to test the waters, but we want to go out there and win this competition, which is very important for us as a team.
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The CAF Women’s Champions League, Cote d’Ivoire 2023 will be hosted in Korhogo and San Pedro, Cote d’Ivoire.
The Last edition of the championship was won by AS FAR of Morocco after beating Mamelodi Sundowns 4-0 at the
Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium, Rabat with 15,000 spectators in attendance. Teams that will be slugging it out in this year’edition are AS FAR.SC Casablanca.AFC Abidjan.Huracanes.AS Mandé JKT Queens.Ampem Darkoa.Mamelodi Sundowns.