Vihiga Queens absent as Cecafa Champions League begins
Vihiga Queens striker Jentrix Shikangwa (right) vies for the ball with a Simba Queens player during their semifinal match of the Cecafa Women's Club Championship at the Nyayo National Stadium on September 6, 2021.
What you need to know:
- Eight teams from eight countries have confirmed participation to the second edition of the competition.
- They are Commercial Bank E. (Ethiopia), Warriors Queens FC (Zanzibar) FOFILA PF (Burundi), As Kigali WFC (Rwanda), Simba Queens Sc (Tanzania) Garde Republicaine (Djibouti), SHE Corporates (Uganda) and YEI Joints Stars Fc (South Sudan).
Harambee Starlets duo of Corazone Aquino and Topister Situma are in line to feature for Simba Queens as they host GRFC of Djibouti in their opening Cecafa Zonal Women's Champions League match at the Benjamin Mkapa Stadium in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania on Sunday (Kick off 7pm EAT).
The two players joined the Serengeti Lite Women's League giants in June and July from Kenya Women Premier League sides Vihiga Queens and Gaspo Women respectively.
Eight teams from eight countries have confirmed participation to the second edition of the competition.
They are Commercial Bank E. (Ethiopia), Warriors Queens FC (Zanzibar) FOFILA PF (Burundi), As Kigali WFC (Rwanda), Simba Queens Sc (Tanzania) Garde Republicaine (Djibouti), SHE Corporates (Uganda) and YEI Joints Stars Fc (South Sudan).
Defending champions Vihiga Queens won't defend their title following the ongoing Fifa suspension of Kenya.
“We want to take this opportunity to wish all the participants of this year's CAF Women Champions League - CECAFA Zone Qualifiers taking place in Arusha, Tanzania the best as they seek to replace us as the region's representatives to the 2022 CAF Women’s Champions League Finals Tournament that will be held in Morocco later in the year.
As the CECAFA region 2021 champions, we will not be defending the title due to the ongoing FIFA suspension on Kenya," said Vihiga Queens via their social media pages.
Speaking to Nation Sport, Simba Queens team manager Selmana Makanya said they have made adequate preparations for the competition and are equal to the task.
"On Friday we did our last training ahead of our first match against Garde Republicaine FC of Djibouti. Some of these teams that we will compete with, we met in Nairobi Kenya last year and we know them. We lost to Vihiga Queens in the semi-finals but we learned a lot," Makanya admitted.
"We recruited new players in the team who will help us achieve our dreams as a team. Our goal this year is to take the home advantage and win the championships. We will fight till the end," added Makanya
