The draw for the CAF Women’s Champions League | COSAFA Qualifier 2023 will take place on Thursday where this year’s clubs can book their place in the continental finals to be held in Ivory Coast in November.
The regional qualifier for Southern African is now in its third year and has been a popular addition to the COSAFA calendar. It will be held in Durban from Aug.30-Sept. 8. You will be able to watch the draw LIVE on our YouTube and Facebook platforms. The mechanics of the draw are quite simple – defending champions Green Buffaloes from Zambia are the top seed in Group A, while Mamelodi Sundowns from the host association South Africa are the seeded team in Group B.
Those two met in the final last year, which was won on penalties by the Zambian outfit, but will be kept apart in the pool stages at least this time round. The next two highest ranked sides are Double Action Ladies (Botswana) and Olympic De Moroni (Comoros).
They contested the third-place play-off in 2022, which was won by Double Action. One team will be drawn in Group A and the other in Group B. The four remaining sides will then be drawn into one of the pools for positions A3 and B3, and A4 and B4.
Those teams are Young Buffaloes (Eswatini), Lesotho Defence Force (Lesotho), debutantes Ntopwa FC (Malawi) and Costa Do Sol (Mozambique). The teams will face-off in a round-robin format with the top two sides in each pool advancing to the semifinals. The winner of Group A will meet the runner-up in Group B, and vice-versa. Only the club that wins this year’s qualifier will advance to the continental competition, which is scheduled to be held from November 5-19.
Sundowns were victorious in the inaugural COSAFA event in 2021 and then went on to be crowned queens of the continent in Egypt. Buffaloes took regional honours last year but Sundowns qualified for the finals in Morocco as holders, and lost in the decider to home side AS FAR.
