Co-captain of the Sasol-sponsored Banyana Banyana, Refiloe Jane, was on the scoresheet for her Italian Serie A Femminile side Sassuolo, but could not help them as they went down 1-2 to FCF Como at the Ferruccio Stadium.
The Soweto-born midfielder put in another fine shift as she netted in the 30 minute to level the scores after FCF Como had taken the lead through Camilla Linberg in the 15th minute. But the visitors could not maintain the status quo, and the hosts grabbed the winner in the 83rd minute for a 2-1 victory.
Despite the loss, Jane’s efforts saw her being included in the league’s Team of the Week.
FIFI, as she is commonly known, is in her first season with Sassuolo after joining them from AC Milan where she spent three years.
The Banyana Banyana stalwart has now scored three goals in 22 league matches.
Sassuolo is currently lying sixth out of the 10-team league, and are out of contention to lift the title. They finished fourth last season.
But with the new changes for the current campaign, they are now playing in what is termed the survival pool after the end of the regular season.
Sassuolo takes on Sampdoria in their next fixture.
Here is how it works:
- Serie A Femminile was reduced from 12 teams to 10 for the 2022/23 season – this was done to not only increase the level of competitiveness in the top tier, but also to accommodate for the second phase of the season.
- The regular 2022/23 Serie A Femminile season is done
- Prior to the 2022/23 campaign, a Serie A Femminile season had each of the teams face one another twice – once home and one away. That remains the procedure for the regular season – meaning 18 matchdays
- The new change is that once each of the 10 Serie A Femminile sides have met at home and away, the league splits into two mini-leagues, each composed of five teams – named the scudetto pool (the top five) and the survival pool (the bottom five)
- From there, there are two more rounds of fixtures – eight more matchdays – with top-half sides facing one another and bottom-half sides playing each other.
- Two new mini-leagues are currently on-going
- Crucially, teams start the second phase of the season on the points tallies they have accumulated from the regular season, and head-to-head records carry over as well, should they become needed in the event of a tiebreak
- As things stand, there are 1.5 relegation places in Serie A Femminile – the bottom-placed side at the end of the second phase of the season will be relegated to Serie B Femminile, while second-from-bottom will face a play-off with a Serie B side for the right to play in the top flight in 2023/24
- The 2022/23 season is the first official campaign of full professionalism for Serie A Femminile.
By Matlhomola Morake
