By 
Johannesburg – CAF Women’s Champions League debutants, ZESCO Ndola Girls, have been handed a daunting challenge in their maiden appearance at the 2025 COSAFA Zone Qualifiers, after being drawn in Group A alongside continental giants Mamelodi Sundowns of South Africa.
The draw, conducted on Tuesday in Johannesburg, South Africa, placed the Zambian Premier League (ZPL) champions in one of the toughest groups of the tournament, alongside two-time CAF Champions League winners Sundowns, Malawi’s Ntopwa FC, and Namibia’s Beauties FC — another tournament debutant.
The team entered the draw as a low seed, having earned their place by dethroning Green Buffaloes, Zambia’s perennial representatives at the regional qualifiers.
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Now, they must navigate a tricky path if they are to reach the CAF Women’s Champions League final tournament.
Mamelodi Sundowns, champions in 2021 and 2023, are the only team to have featured in all four CAF Women’s Champions League finals.
Although they lost on penalties to Green Buffaloes in the 2022 COSAFA Qualifiers final, they still progressed to the continental tournament as defending champions.
The Zambian representatives will hope to at least match, if not surpass, Buffaloes’ 2022 performance, where the Zambians finished third at the main CAF Women’s Champions League tournament.
This year’s COSAFA Qualifiers have expanded to feature 10 teams, with Group B headed by last year’s beaten finalists, Gaborone United Ladies FC of Botswana. They are joined by Eswatini’s Young Buffaloes and Kick4Life of Lesotho.
In Group C, Zimbabwe’s Herentals Queens lead the seedings and will face CD Costa do Sol of Mozambique and Olympic de Moroni from Comoros.
Only the group winners and the best-ranked second-placed team across all groups will advance to the semifinals. However, in Group A — which contains four teams — results against the bottom-placed side will not count in determining the best second-placed team.
The 2025 CAF Women’s Champions League | COSAFA Zone Qualifiers will run from August 22 to 31 at the University of Johannesburg’s AW Muller Stadium.
Contributed by Samuel Lukhanda
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