Defending champions Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies have expressed excitement after discovering the identity of their opponents in the 2022 TotalEnergies CAF Women’s Champions League.
The draw was held on Friday, 9 September in Rabat, and saw the Brazilians drawn in Group B alongside Bayelsa Queens (Nigeria), Wadi Degla (Egypt) and a yet undecided UNIFFAC qualifiers champions.
“This is an exciting draw, and we are happy with the various teams we have been paired against. Last year, we faced a Moroccan side in ASFAR and a Nigerian team in Rivers Angels in the group stage and now we have an Egyptian team in Wadi Degla and another Nigerian side in Bayelsa Queens. This means we are playing against teams whose style of football we have come to understand. Hopefully, we will find out who the UNIFFAC champion is very soon. Overall, we are happy with the results of the draw,” said Sundowns Ladies coach Jerry Tshabalala on the club’s website.
The four teams drawn in Group are last year’s finalists and 2022 hosts, AS FAR (Morocco), Simba Queens (Tanzania), Green Buffaloes (Zambia) and Determine Girls FC (Liberia).
After lifting the inaugural competition, Tshabalala believes experience could be the key to their success in the tournament.
“We expect the second edition of the CAF Women’s Champions League to deliver fireworks. Thus, we have to bank on our experience to be able to retain the bragging rights over the tournament we won last year. We are looking forward to making more history on the continent and we cannot wait to get started. For us to be champions of Africa again, we need to play against the stronger opponents, and we are ready for that,” added Tshabalala.
The tournament will be played from 30 October to 13 November 2022 in Morocco.
But before then, Banyana Ba Style return to domestic league action following the international break.
They will be hosting a stubborn University of the Western Cape (UWC) on Sunday, 18 September in the Hollywoodbets Super League.
The Brazilians’ only loss in the competition this season was at the hands of UWC in the first round.
After 16 matches, Sundowns Ladies are sitting at the top of the table with 45 points, following 15 wins.
By Matlhomola Morake
