WOMEN
CAF Women’s Champions League Zonal qualifier to take place in Addis Ababa
The CECAFA Zonal qualifier for the CAF Women’s Champions League will take place August 17th to September 4th, 2024 in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.
Kenya’s Police Bullets FC, Warriors Queens (Zanzibar), Kawempe Muslim Ladies (Uganda) and Rayon Sport Women (Rwanda) will be participating in the tournament for the first time.
Yusuf Mossi, the CECAFA Competitions Manager says nine teams will compete in the Zonal qualifiers with the champion to represent the Zone at the CAF Women’s Champions League finals.
“We expect a very competitive tournament which will see some new teams and others return after a year. The standard of Women’s Football in the Zone keeps improving and this we have noted during this qualifier,” added Mossi.
Kenya’s Vihiga Queens, Simba Queens (Tanzania) and JKT Queens (Tanzania) are the teams that have represented the Zone in the last three CAF Women’s Champions League.
In the first edition held in Egypt 2021, Vihiga Queens failed to make it out of the Group after picking only one win against Morocco’s AS FAR. In 2022 Simba Queens went all the way to the semi-final stage where they lost 1-0 to Mamelodi Sundowns.
Last year when the event was held in Ivory Coast, JKT Queens failed to make it out of the group after they lost two matches and only registered a 2-1 win against Athletico Football Club of Abidjan (Ivory Coast).
Teams for the Zonal qualifiers
Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (Ethiopia)
PVP Buyenzi (Burundi)
FAD Djibouti (Djibouti)
Kenya Police Bullets FC (Kenya)
Rayon Sport Womens (Rwanda)
Yei Joint Stars (South Sudan)
Simba Queens (Tanzania)
Kawempe Muslim Ladies (Uganda)
Warriors Queens (Zanzibar)
The Twiga Stars of Tanzania have been drawn in Group B along side South Africa, Ivory Coast and Burkina Faso ahead of the TotalEnergies CAF Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) 2026.
CAF conducted the draw on January 16th in Rabat, Morocco.
The tournament which will attract 16 teams will be hosted by Morocco to run March 17th to April 3rd, 2026.
Kenya, the second team from the Council of East and Central Africa Football Associations (CECAFA) have been placed in Group A alongside hosts Morocco, Algeria and Senegal.
The defending champions and 10-time champions Nigeria are in Group C together with Zambia, Egypt and Malawi.
The top two sides in each of the four groups will advance to the quarter-finals, and the four teams that reach the semi-finals will qualify for the FIFA Women’s World Cup Brazil 2027.
The losers at the quarter-final stage will play a set of matches to determine which two African teams will enter the inter-confederation play-offs for a place at the World Cup.
Groups
Group A (Rabat, Moulay Hassan Stadium)
Morocco, Algeria, Senegal, Kenya
Group B (Rabat, Al Madina Stadium)
South Africa, Côte d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Tanzania
Group C (Casablanca)
Nigeria, Zambia, Egypt, Malawi
Group D (Fes)
Ghana, Cameroon, Mali, Cape Verde
Ugandan International Fauzia Najjemba has joined Boston Legacy in the USA on a two year contract.
The Crested Cranes player last week signed with the National Women Super league (NWSL) side in the USA after leaving Russia’s Dynamo Moscow
“I am very happy to have signed with Boston Legacy and I can’t wait to start a new challenge in USA,” said Najjemba.
The winger featured for Isra Soccer Academy and Kampala Queens in Uganda, and later made her first professional Football move to join BIIK Shymkent in Kazakhstan.
Najjemba becomes the second Ugandan female player to join another NWSL side. Defender Shadia Nankya joined Washington Spirit last moth, but was later loaned out to Dallas Trinity.
Boston Legacy are new comers in the NWSL in the League which will now feature 16 teams instead of the previous 14. Boston Legacy and Denver Summit are the new comers in NWSL.
FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup qualifiers
Kenya to face Namibia in FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup 2026 qualifiers
Eight teams from the CECAFA Zone have been drawn to play in the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup 2026 African qualifiers.
The Kenya Junior Starlets who played in the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup 2024 in the Dominican Republic will face Namibia in the first round.
A total of 31 teams will be involved in the qualifiers which kick-off in April, 2026. The qualifiers will be played in three knockout rounds, and the best four teams will qualify for the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup Finals in Morocco.
The draw was conducted on Saturday in Rabat, Morocco where TotalEnergies CAF Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) is currently taking place. Jacqueline Shipanga, the technical Director of the Namibia Football Federation, CAF Elite Instructor was the draw assistant.
In-case the Kenya Junior Starlets qualifies for the second round they will meet the winner between Zimbabwe and Uganda. Interestingly CECAFA tams Kenya and Tanzania could meet in the final third round hurdle if they managed to sail through their first and second round matches.
Rwanda have been placed against Zambia, while Djibouti take on DR Congo in other first round matches. It will be an all CECAFA affair when South Sudan take on Ethiopia.
While the first round maches take center stage April 10-19th, the second round matches of the qualifiers will take place between May 22-31st, and the final third round takes place between July 3-12th, 2026
First round
Niger vs Guinea
Burkina Faso vs Benin
Sierra Leone vs Core d’Ivoire
Tunisia vs Senegal
Algeria vs Cameroon
Togo vs Ghana
Libya vs Liberia
Rwanda vs Zambia
DR Congo vs Djibouti
South Sudan vs Ethiopia
Malawi vs Burundi
Botswana vs Tanzania
Central African Republic vs South Africa
Zimbabwe vs Uganda
Namibia vs Kenya
Burundian International Sandrine Niyonkuru netted one of the goals to help Changchun Dazhong Zhuoyue beat Guangdong WFC 2-0 to clinch the 2025 Chinese Football Association (FA) Cup.
The hosts Guangdong WFC were the favourites going into the game in Zhaoqing, but Cangchun Dazhong Zhuoyue WFC played their hearts out to win the trophy for the first time.
Niyonkuru also finished as the top scorer in the Chinese Women’s Super League that ended over a week ago.
Ugandan International defender Aisha Nantongo also features for Changchun Dazhong Zhuoyue WFC.
Niyonkuru who joined the Chinese side from Masar FC from Egypt also finished top scorer in the League this season. She played 21 matches and scored 10 goals.
Her club ended the season with 34 points, finishing 7th out of 12 teams.
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