Tanzania’s JKT Queens have exited the on-going CAF Women’s Champions League 2025 in Egypt

Going into the last Group B match on Saturday against TP Mazembe, the CECAFA champions needed a win to advance to the knock out stage.

Despite scoring early through Stumai Abdallah after 14 minutes, JKT Queens lost 4-1 to the DR Congo team. After their 1-1 draw against Gaborone United and ASEC Mimosas, the Tanzanian team finished with two points.

Kessy Abdallah, the JKT Queens coach said that although they failed to advance to the next stage, the team has learnt some lessons.

“We played three matches, drew twice and lost once. Our young team has learnt a lot on how to handle matches at this big stage,” explained Abdallah.

The coach explained that the team did not respond well especially on the defending side, but also failed to take the many scoring opportunities they created.

CECAFA representatives JKT Queens have been drawn in Group B of the 2025 CAF Women’s Champions League.

The Tanzanian Women’s League champions were placed in Group B alongside TP Mazembe (DR Congo), ASEC Mimosas (Ivory Coast) and Botswana’s Gaborone United in the draw  conducted on Monday in Cairo, Egypt.

Egypt will host the eight team 2025 CAF Women’s Champions League from November 8-21^st.

Group A has the likes of FC Masar (Egypt), ASFAR (Morocco), 15 De Agosto (Equatorial Guinea) and Mali’s USFAS Bamako.

It will be the second time that JKT Queens play in the top African Women’s Club competition. Another Tanzanian team Simba Queens are the best performers from the CECAFA Zone in the competition when they finished 4^th in 2022.

The head coach of Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE) women’s team has said that despite falling out at the group stage, they picked great lessons playing at the CAF Women’s Champions League.

CBE, the CECAFA Women’s Champions League reigning champions lost all their three group matches at the tournament on-going in Morocco.

They opened with a 3-0 defeat to Edo Queens (Nigeria), and suffered a 4-0 defeat to South Africa’s Mamelodi Sundowns. In the last group match played last Saturday, CBE lost 2-1 to FC Masar (Egypt) with Senaf Wakuma scoring their only goal of the tournament.

Heye Gizaw Birhanu, the CBE coach has made it clear that there are several lessons that his players and even the technical bench take back home. “We were playing in the CAF Women’s Championship League final tournament for the first time and several things were new to us. Playing against top sides in Africa has been a great eye opener for us and we are not the same now,” said Birhanu.

The coach made it clear that with the lessons they have picked from the tournament they will come back a better and improved side.

The head coach of Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE) has said that he is still optimistic of the team getting some positive results in the on-going CAF Women’s Champions League tournament in Morocco.

Heye Gizaw Birhanu’s team made a losing start falling 3-0 to Edo Queens (Nigeria) in their Group B opening match played at the Larbi Zaouli Stadium in Casablanca on Sunday.

The Nigerian side also making their debut in the tournament like CBE scored through Emem Essien, Folashade Ljamilusi and Chukwuamaka Osigwe.

Birhanu said that playing their first match in the tournament was a big stage for most of his players which resulted to some errors. “We lost the match, but also failed to take the few scoring opportunities we created,” added the CBE coach.

He further explained that after losing the opening match they are more than determined to prove a point in the remaining two group matches against two time champions Mamelodi Sundowns and FC Masar.

The defeat leaves CBE bottom of the log, while Egypt’s FC Masar who shocked Mamelodi Sundowns in their first game are second on the log and Edo Queens top.

“We have taken some lessons from the opening match and we are going to fix our challenges ahead of the next two group matches. My players are still very confident and determined to deliver,” added the CBE coach Birhanu.

The CECAFA Women’s champions will return to action on November 13^th against Mamelodi Sundowns (South Africa), and complete with the last group match against FC Masar three days later.

The best two teams from each group will automatically qualify for the semi-final stage. The teams in Group A include; AS FAR (Morocco), TP Mazembe (DR Congo), University of Western Cape (South Africa) and Aigles de la Medina (Senegal).