<\/p>\n
Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies will be out to prove their Women\u2019s African Champions League success was not \u201ca fluke\u201d when they defend their title in Morocco.<\/span><\/p>\n Sundowns will then face returning Egyptian club Wadi Degla and DR Congo\u2019s TP Mazembe, another club making its first appearance at the tournament, which is being hosted in Rabat and Marrakech.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a lot at stake for us as a defending champions \u2013 the pressure will always be there,\u201d coach Jerry Tshabalala said.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThe good thing about this tournament is the girls are prepared and know what to expect. This will make my job easier compared to the previous one.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWe need to prove that it wasn\u2019t a fluke for us to become the first team to win the Champions League. It\u2019s never an easy task to defend a title. There will always be a mountain to climb.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n TP Mazembe are one of the continent\u2019s giants in the men\u2019s game, having been crowned African champions five times, but their women\u2019s team was created just two years ago.<\/span><\/p>\n Women\u2019s competitions in DR Congo are less developed than in other African countries but Etienne Mboumba, the club\u2019s women\u2019s sporting director, is dreaming big.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cOur wish is to see women\u2019s soccer emerge,\u201d Mboumba told BBC Sport Africa.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cOur goal is to win the Champions League. This is our plan. It would really be the best gift we could give to our club president Moise Katumbi.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cHe is always there, he is always listening. He is really a father for us.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Mazembe midfielder Juliette Atimango added: \u201cWe do not fear any team and, with the help of our coaches, we have confidence.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Yenagoa-based Bayelsa Queens, meanwhile, travel to Morocco after Bayelsa State was badly affected by <\/span>the worst flooding the West African nation has seen in a decade.<\/span><\/p>\n In Group A, hosts AS FAR will take on Simba Queens of Tanzania, Liberian club Determine Girls and Zambia\u2019s Green Buffaloes \u2013 three sides who did not appear in the first edition of the Women\u2019s African Champions League.<\/span><\/p>\n The Moroccans were beaten semi-finalists last year, while Green Buffaloes beat Mamelodi Sundowns on penalties in the final of their regional qualifying tournament.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThe girls have been producing results and we are confident,\u201d Green Buffaloes coach Charles Haalubono said.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWe won the Cosafa Cup [against Sundowns], but it was not easy. It was one of the toughest games we have ever played.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWe have been working up front as during the Cosafa Cup we wasted a lot of chances.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Organisers the Confederation of African Football have announced the winners of the tournament will receive $400,000 in prize money.<\/span><\/p>\n The runners-up will be handed \u00a3250,000, with beaten semi-finalists taking home $200,000 and the teams finishing third and fourth in the group $150,000 and $100,000 respectively.<\/span><\/p>\n Although the figures are far below the $2.5m awarded to the winners of the men\u2019s African Champions League, Sundowns coach Tshabalala believes the prize fund is \u201cmotivation on its own\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cEveryone knows that if you win the Champions League, it will change some of the players\u2019 lives,\u201d the 42-year-old added.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter which team gets to win it. It\u2019s an opportunity for them to go out there and say \u2018We\u2019ve got money in our pocket, this will make a little bit of a difference\u2019.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n The tournament, which will begin on Sunday, culminates in the final in Rabat, the Moroccan capital, on Sunday 13 November.<\/span><\/p>\n Group A:<\/strong> AS FAR (Morocco, hosts), Simba Queens (Tanzania), Green Buffaloes (Zambia) and Determine Girls (Liberia).<\/span><\/p>\n Group B:<\/strong> Mamelodi Sundowns (South Africa, holders), Bayelsa Queens (Nigeria), Wadi Degla (Egypt) and TP Mazembe (DR Congo).<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Mamelodi Sundowns beat Ghana\u2019s Hasaacas Ladies to win the inaugural Women\u2019s African Champions League title Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies will be out to prove their Women\u2019s African Champions League success was not \u201ca fluke\u201d when they defend their title in Morocco. Sundowns will then face returning Egyptian club Wadi Degla and DR Congo\u2019s TP Mazembe, another […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1237927,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1237925","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-africa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1237925","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1237925"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1237925\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1237925"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1237925"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1237925"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Prize fund motivation<\/h3>\n
Women\u2019s African Champions League group draw<\/h3>\n