Mpumalanga will have only one team in the 2024 season of the Hollywoodbets Super League after Coal City Wizards were relegated on Sunday, 29 October 2023.
This follows a 1-0 loss to the Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) in Pretoria, with a Lizza Mokoena 60th minute strike condemning Coal City to the Sasol League with two games to go, ending a four year stay in the South African elite Women’s Football League.
The Mpumalanga side joins Limpopo’s Ma-Indies Ladies in the lower tier of women’s football, the Sasol League.
Newcomers TS Galaxy Queens will be the only Hollywoodbets Super League side from Mpumalanga.
Coal City Wizards have been playing in the elite Women’s Football League inception in the 2019/20 season, where they finished fifth in the 12-team league.
Things started going wrong in 2021 when they managed the 12th spot with competition having increased to 14 teams.
The warning signs were evident last year when, with 16 teams in the league, they ended 13th, surviving the axe by a whisker.
The start of the 2023 season saw them lose their chairman Mabu Maroaswi, who was also their coach, when he passed away on 2 January before the start of the league campaign, and it was downhill from there.
When competition kicked off about a month later, they suffered a huge loss in their opening match of the season – going down 9-1 to the University of the Western Cape – and they failed to win a match in eight outings, playing only one draw in the process.
Their first win of the season was a 2-0 win in April against the same TUT that relegated them.
Coal City Wizards, along with Golden Ladies, who were relegated last year, remain the only two teams to concede 11 goals in a match, without scoring – both suffered under the reigning champion Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies in two different seasons.
The Mpumalanga side go down with only four wins, two draws and 22 defeats.
They have a porous defence that has let in 96 goals – in only 28 games – this season, the highest of all teams, and have scored only 27 times.
COAL CITY WIZARDS 2023 SEASON SO FAR:
POSITION: 15TH
PLAYED: 28
WON: 4
DREW: 2
LOST: 22
GF: 27
GA: 96
POINTS: 14
MA-INDIES 2023 SEASON SO FAR:
POSITION: 16TH
PLAYED: 27
WON: 2
DREW: 2
LOST: 23
GF: 17
GA: 67
POINTS: 8
Both Coal City Wizards and Ma-Indies Ladies are expected to bid farewell to the Hollywoodbets Super League campaign on 26 November 2023.
The Mpumalanga outfit still has to face Durban Ladies and City Lads Ladies, while the Limpopo outfit will round off its season with clashes against TS Galaxy Queens, Tuks Ladies and TUT.
The relegated sides will be replaced by the newly-promoted Fort Hare University from the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu Natal’s Lindelani Ladies.
The students were crowned the 2023 Sasol League National Champions in Bloemfontein recently, while Lindelani were runners up.
Fort Hare University (Alice) become the third side from the Eastern Cape, joining City Lads Ladies (Gqeberha) and Thunderbirds Ladies (East London), while Lindelani will have good company in KwaZulu Natal alongside Durban Ladies (Durban) and Royal AM (Pietermaritzburg).
North West and the Free State remain the only two provinces without a Hollywoodbets Super League representative following the relegation of Golden Ladies (NW) and Tsunami Queens (FS) last year.
2024 HOLLYWOODBETS SUPER LEAGUE SEASON:
TEAMS BY PROVINCE:
GAUTENG:
- Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies
- JVW
- UJ Ladies
- University Of Pretoria
- Tshwane University Of Technology
NORTHERN CAPE:
- Richmond United
WESTERN CAPE:
- UWC
KWAZULU NATAL:
- Durban Ladies
- Royal AM
- Lindelani Ladies
LIMPOPO:
- Copperbelt Ladies
- First Touch Ladies
EASTERN CAPE:
- Fort Hare University
- Thunderbirds Ladies
- City Lads Ladies
MPUMALANGA:
- TS Galaxy Queens
By Matlhomola Morake
