The 2024 CAF Women’s Champions League|Cosafa qualifiers begin tomorrow, August 15 to 24, in Blantyre, Malawi, with Zambia represented by reigning Super League champions Green Buffaloes Women’s FC.
The 2022 Cosafa champions left for Malawi yesterday, hoping to reclaim the regional title when they compete for the fourth time at the 2024 edition in Blantyre.
Buffaloes will be the only club to have competed in all four regional qualifier tournaments since they began in 2021, as defending champions Mamelodi Sundowns have already qualified for the continental final as holders and will not take part in Malawi.
The club’s head coach Carol Kanyemba has declared her team for the competition but she is aware that her group A opponents are no pushovers.
“Green Buffalo’s Women’s Football Club is ready for the tournament in Malawi, and in our group, we’ve got a South African team, a Zimbabwean team, and a Namibian team. First game, we’ll be playing against the South African team and we know it’s not going to be a pushover,” she told FAZ media before departing for Malawi on Tuesday. “Neither of the other teams are pushovers in our group, but we’re going to work extra hard to get the maximum points from the first game that we’re going to play to motivate us even as we play the other games.”
She continued: “The team has been preparing very well and I can say we are ready. We’ve got a few inclusions that we’ve built up a team for, and we believe that we’ll be able to deliver as we go to Malawi. The girls are very positive. The morale in camp is very high, and being once defending champion, we’ve got every reason to win this trophy and bring it back home. It’s like 2024 is our year, and the last time we won this trophy was in an even year, which was 2022.”
To improve on their previous performance, Kanyemba has set goals of winning titles and reaching the final of the CAF Champions League.
“We just want to improve and perform much better and qualify for Caf Champions League where we have to go to perform better than the group stage that we last qualified in. We Want to go further than that stage, probably even playing the finals and surprise the world by bringing the Caf cup home.
Buffaloes won the title two years ago, defeating Sundowns on penalties in the final after a hard-fought 0-0 draw, and have advanced to the knockout rounds in each of their previous three Cosafa appearances.
They lost 1-0 to Sundowns in the 2021 semifinals and were defeated again in the last four by the South African club in 2023.
Having previously competed in the 2022 CAF Women’s Champions League in Morocco where they exited in the group stages, Kanyemba and her girls will be confident heading into this year’s edition.
The Nyata Girls will open their campaign against South African University of Western Cape FC on Thursday, then face Herental Queens from Zimbabwe on the 17th, and will conclude the group against FC Onges Ladies from Namibia.
The winners of the tournament will qualify for the 2024 CAF Women’s Champions League finals.
