2021 TotalEnergies CAF Women’s Champions League winners, Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies believe they are ready to tackle some of the continent’s best teams when they compete in the tournament set to kick off on Sunday, 5 November 2023 in Cote d’Ivoire, with the finals scheduled for 19 November.
The reigning Hollywoodbets Super League champions were dethroned by Morocco’s AS FAR in last year’s final.
“Obviously as a team we’re looking forward to win the CAF Women’ Champions League, and we know what happened last year so this year we will try to go out there and apply ourselves according to the way we trained. Also, we are very aware that if we win the Champions League, we stand a good chance of representing the country again next year, so this is one of the things that we’re looking forward to,” said captain Zanele Nhlapho.
The South Africans are making their third appearance in the three-year old tournament and have only one mission in mind.
But they are also well aware of the hard work they have to put to emerge as the last team standing.
Banyana Ba Style open their Group A account with a clash against debutants JKT Queens of Tanzania on Sunday, 5 November, followed three days later (Wednesday, 8 November) by the clash against SC Casablanca of Morocco while hosts Athlético FC d’Abidjan lie in wait in the last group stages fixture on Saturday, 11 November.
The semifinal will be played on Wednesday, 15 November with the third/fourth place play-off set for Saturday, 18 November.
The final will take place on Sunday, 19 November.
MAMELODI SUNDOWNS GROUP A CAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FIXTURES:
vs JKT Queens
Sunday, 5 November 2023
vs SC Casablanca
Wednesday, 8 November 2023
vs Athlético FC d’Abidjan
Saturday, 11 November 2023
“This is a very exciting group, a very challenging one, all the teams in our group are debutants, we got to dig deep in terms of finding how they play and all that and what they’re capable of. I believe we just need to rely more on our strength you know and try our level best just to start the tournament on the on the right foot especially with playing against JKT Queens from Tanzania, I think it would be a nice thing for us to collect three points against them and it will be a confidence booster for us should we get those three points. CAF competition is very important for us, we win it we dominate not only in South Africa but the entire continent of Africa and we we’re ready for it and we’re looking forward to this one,” Sundowns Ladies Jerry Tshabalala told the club’s Media Department.
“There is only one vision – we just want to win the tournament, nothing else. It’s a great feeling when we win the tournament because we once won it before, and we know the feeling. We know what to expect from the other teams because we were very fortunate to get some of the footage of Morocco’s SC Casablanca, JKT Queens, but we don’t have much from the hosts so it’s going to be a bit of a challenge, but the vision is just to win the CAF Champions League.”
Despite being without some key players, Tshabalala, also known as Kappa, is confident that they will return home victorious. They have also had to be selective about which players to register for the tournament, with the new rules only allowing 21 players, instead of the initial 23 in previous years.
“It is what it is, when regulations say we can only register 21 players, it’s a new regulation and we just have to deal with it. We currently have about six players who are not going to participate in the tournament – Lelona Daweti, Thato Letsoso, Bambanani Mbane, Tiisetso Makhubela and Rhoda Mulaudzi – but with the number of players that we’ve got we will soldier on and go and challenge for first prize,” added Kappa.
The South Africans won the inaugural edition of this competition in 2021 but surrendered the title to AS FAR last year.
Banyana Ba Style qualified for 2023 CAF Women’s Champions League after lifting the regional qualifier held in Durban in September this year following a fine run where they were unbeaten in five games, and hit the back of the net 21 times, conceding just one.
They enter the Cote d’Ivorie tournament high in confidence after an impressive performance in the Hollywoodbets Super League, with five wins in October: 6-0 vs City Lads Ladies, 6-0 vs Durban Ladies, 6-1 vs JVW, 11-0 vs Coal City Wizards and 1-0 vs title rivals University of the Western Cape (UWC).
“So far so good with our preparations, I think as a team we’re doing well, and I think we are ready, considering the fact that we go into the tournament at the right time looking at the few Hollywoodbets Super League fixtures that we played recently. I think those six nil wins back-to-back, and also that eleven nil win prepared us very well going to the CAF Champions League. I think the preparations are going very well and also that we have new players in our team, and they have adapted very well, so we’ll do our best with the rest of the players that we have,” added Nhlapho.
Defending champions AS FAR headlines Group B where they have been drawn against
Ampem Darkoa of Ghana, Huracanes of Equatorial Guinea and AS Mande of Mali.
The matches will be hosted in San Pedro and Korhogo, using the Stade Laurent Pokou and Stade Amadou Gon Coulibaly respectively.
The eight clubs taking part in the tournament consist of the reigning champions, the hosts, as well as six champions of the respective CAF zones.
MAMELODI SUNDOWNS LADIES SQUAD LIST:
| JERSEY NO. | NAME | POSITION | BIRTHDATE |
| 1. | ANDILE DLAMNI | GK | 02 Sep 92 |
| 2. | MBALI NTIMENI | GK | 14 NOV 03 |
| 3. | KARABO MAKHURUBETSHI | DF | 03 FEB 99 |
| 4. | LEBOHANG RAMALEPE | DF | 03 DEC 91 |
| 5. | ZANELE NHLAPHO | DF | 24 JUNE 91 |
| 6. | KARABO DHLAMINI | MF | 18 SEP 01 |
| 7. | LEHLOGONOLO MASHIGO | DF | 20 JULY 99 |
| 8. | CHUENE MORIFI | DF | 13 FEB 91 |
| 10. | BOITUMELO RABALE | MF | 05 AUG 96 |
| 11. | MELINDA KGADIETE | MF | 21 JULY 92 |
| 12. | MALEBOGO SHAWE | MF | 13 FEB 01 |
| 13. | ORATILE MOKWENA | MF | 21 MAR 01 |
| 14. | MICHE MINNIES | MF | 14 NOV 01 |
| 15. | LERATO KGASAGO | MF | 21 SEP 91 |
| 16. | SEDILAME BOSIJA | GK | 01 DEC 97 |
| 17. | ANDISIWE MGCOYI | FW | 16 JUNE 88 |
| 18. | REGINA MOGOLOLA | MF | 17 APR 93 |
| 19. | KHOLOSA BIYANA | DF | 06 SEP 94 |
| 20. | KHUNJOLWA MALI | FW | 10 JULY 02 |
| 21. | NONHLANHLA MTHANDI | FW | 19 AUG 95 |
| 24. | REFILWE THOLAKELE | MF | 24 JAN 96 |
| TECHNICAL TEAM | |||
| DIPUO MABOE | TEAM MANAGER | ||
| AGNES NKOSI | ASSISTANT COACCH | ||
| THABITHA MOHLALA | PHYSIOTHERAPIST | ||
| NOKUBONGA MBALA | KIT MANAGER | ||
| JERRY TSHABALALA | HEAD COACH | ||
| DR. NOKUFA MAKAE | TEAM DOCTOR | ||
| VANESSA KHOZA | TEAM MASSEUSE | ||
| KASEY OLIVER | STRENGTH & CONDITIONING COACH | ||
| CHARLES LESETJA | TEAM SAFETY OFFICER | ||
| KOKETSO TSHABALALA | GOALKEEPER COACH | ||
| ELIZABETH DE KOKER | HEAD OF DELEGATION | ||
| ORENEILE LEBETHE | SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER | ||
| NKANYEZI NALA | TEAM PHOTOGRAPHER | ||
| ZANOXOLO MTHIYANE | TEAM VIDEOGRAPHER | ||
2023 TOTALENERGIES CAF WOMEN’S CHAMPIONS LEAGUE QUALIFIED TEAMS:
| Association | Team | Qualifying method | Appearance |
| Ivory Coast | Athlético FC d’Abidjan (hosts) | 2022–23 Ivory Coast Women’s Championship champions | 1st |
| Morocco | AS FAR (holders) | 2022 CAF Women’s Champions League winners | 3rd |
| SC Casablanca | 2023 CAF Women’s Champions League UNAF Qualifiers champions | 1st | |
| Mali | AS Mandé | 2023 CAF Women’s Champions League WAFU Zone A Qualifiers champions | 2nd |
| Ghana | Ampem Darkoa | 2023 CAF Women’s Champions League WAFU Zone B Qualifiers champions | 1st |
| Tanzania | JKT Queens | 2023 CAF Women’s Champions League CECAFA Qualifiers champions | 1st |
| Equatorial Guinea | Huracanes | 2023 CAF Women’s Champions League UNIFFAC Qualifiers champions | 1st |
| South Africa | Mamelodi Sundowns | 2023 CAF Women’s Champions League COSAFA Qualifiers Champions | 3rd |
By Matlhomola Morake
