The draw for the inaugural edition of the COSAFA Women’s Champions League will be held on Thursday, July 29 when the seven competing teams will hope to win a place at the TOTAL CAF Women’s Champions League later this year.

The draw for the August 26-September 4 competition will take place in Johannesburg at 11h00 and will be streamed live on www.cosafa.tv as the sides learn their fate in the latest exciting edition to the COSAFA football calendar.

The host city for the competition will also be unveiled as the champions from women’s domestic leagues across the region fight it out for top honours in COSAFA’s first ever club tournament.

The seven-team field contains South African champions Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies, Double Action Ladies (Botswana), Manzini Wanderers LFC (Eswatini), Lesotho Defence Force (Lesotho), Turu Magic (Namibia), Green Buffaloes FC (Zambia) and Black Rhino Queens FC (Zimbabwe).

The teams will be split into two groups, one with four sides and the other three, with the top two teams in each pool advancing to the semifinals.

The TOTAL CAF Women’s Champion League is due to be staged later in the year and the COSAFA competition will serve as a qualifier for that, with the winner advancing to the continental finals.

“We are delighted to be hosting the first ever COSAFA Women’s Champions League, which has been a competition we had been hoping to add to our calendar for some time,” COSAFA General Secretary Sue Destombes says.

“Women’s football is certainly coming on in leaps and bounds in Africa and we are excited to be playing our part in that. We certainly see this as a competition that will grow much bigger in the years to come and will be a fantastic platform for our players in the region.”

Soka25east.com