UWC Ladies look to rekindle Caf hopes

The Western Cape students, South Africa’s representatives in the regional competition, made their debut in the CAF Women’s Champions League qualifying and were beaten 1-0 by Green Buffaloes of Zambia. The Zambians won this Cosafa tournament two seasons ago.

Despite enjoying the lion’s share of possession against the former champions, the South Africans failed to capitalise. They paid the price late in the second half when striker Natasha Nanyangwe came off the bench to score the winner. She rose above the UWC defence to score with a header from a well-taken corner by Agnes Phiri.

Nanyangwe had only been on the field for two minutes, after replacing Malawian international Vanessa Chikupila.

UWC returns to action today with their second group fixture against Namibian champions FC Ongos.

The Namibians, like UWC, are also debutants and suffered defeat in their opener. They were beaten 3-1 by Zimbabwe’s Herentals Queens.

UWC coach Thinasonke Mbuli knows her side face an uphill battle because two of their group opponents have played in the qualifiers in past seasons.

“I think it’s a tough group. We have two teams in the group that have played in the qualifiers before so we know it won’t be easy.

“We want to qualify for the Champions League. But we know we must come prepared because it won’t be easy,” she said.

UWC will play their final group against Herentals Queens (Zimbabwe) on Tuesday.

The overall winner of the 10-day tournament will book a place at the CAF Women’s Champions League’s finals and will join current African champions, South Africa’s Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies.

Sundowns lifted the Cosafa trophy in 2021 and 2023, and were runners-up in 2022, so there will be much expectation on UWC, who finished as runners-up to The Brazilians in the Hollywoodbets Women’s Super League last season.