The qualifying matches for the maiden edition of the CAF Women's Champions League kicked-off in Africa's zones. The final competition is to be played in Egypt in October. West African Football Union (WAFU B) hosted the first zonal draw that would see women's football clubs from Togo, Niger, Ghana, Burkina Faso, Cote d'Ivoire and Nigeria in the mix contesting for a place in the final event. The competition is newly introduced by CAF to develop women's football in Africa. It will feature top teams from all over the continent. To decide the teams that will participate in Egypt later this year, zonal qualifiers will be played as elimination rounds. The top six teams (one from each CAF zone) and the host of the final tournament (Egypt) as well as one extra team from the zone holding the title of the previous Women's Africa Cup of Nations (2018) will qualify for the final tournament. The draw was conducted in Abidjan on Monday 5 July. The WAFU B teams in the draw included Amis du Monde Football Club (Togo), Association Sportive de la police (Niger), Hasaacas Ladies Football Club (Ghana), Union Sportive des forces Armees (Burkina Faso), Rivers Angels Football Club (Nigeria) and Onze Soeurs de Gagnoa (Cote d'Ivoire). Other zonal qualifiers were scheduled to take place on Wednesday 7 July with the North Africa Zone (UNAF) hosting their draw. The participating countries were Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria. Egypt, as the host nation for the final tournament of the Women's Champions League, gets an automatic qualification. On the same day, the Centre-East Zone (CECAFA) was also scheduled to host their draw, including Burundi, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda and Zanzibar. The West Zone A (WAFU A) has confirmed Cape Verde as the host for the inaugural Total Energies CAF Women's Champions League qualifying tournament. The debut club competition will be held in the city of Sao Vicente from 24 to 30 July with four teams vying for the zone's only ticket to the Total Energies CAF Women's Champions League 2021. Sao Vicente is one of the Barlavento islands, the northern group within the Cape Verde archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, off the West African coast. The participating clubs are from host nation Cape Verde, Senegal, Liberia and Mali while The Gambia, Mauritania, Sierra Leone, Guinea and Guinea-Bissau did not register clubs representing them. Cape Verde's Seven Stars will be flying the host country's flag. Senegalese champions AS Dakar Sacre Coeur will battle alongside the champions of Mali AS Mande and Determine Girls of Liberia. The tournament will be played at the Stade Aderito Sena in Sao Vicente with all the teams playing against each other in a round robin format to determine the winner. The regional body says the tournament will help promote women's football and increase the number of participants and professionalism in the game. Seven teams will qualify for the final tournament through the zonal qualifiers in addition to the champion club from the host country. So far, Egypt has not decided on its participating women's team. The participation of national teams in women's football competitions is constantly improving. For the Total Women's Africa Cup of Nations, Morocco 2022, 45 National Associations have entered the competition. The qualifiers for the Africa Cup of Nations, also qualify for the FIFA Women's World Cup in Australia - New Zealand in 2023. On the other hand, the Total Women's Africa Cup of Nations will be the first edition held under the format of 12 teams. The 2016 and 2018 AFCON qualifiers brought together 23 and 24 teams respectively. According to CAF online, after the cancellation of the 2020 edition due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the figures for the 2022 edition show an estimated engagement rate of 80 per cent. Altogether, 45 teams have committed to participate, including Morocco, the host country of the final tournament. With Morocco automatically qualifying because of its host status, 44 teams will take part in the qualifiers. The most represented region is the CECAFA Zone (Centre-East) with 10 teams: Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi, Djibouti, Eritrea, South Sudan, Tanzania and Sudan. Next comes the Southern Africa COSAFA Zone with nine countries: South Africa, Zimbabwe, Angola, Namibia, Botswana, Eswatini, Mozambique, Malawi and Zambia. WAFU A has eight teams: Mali, Senegal, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mauritania and Sierra Leone. Its counterpart WAFU B presents seven teams: Nigeria, Ghana, Côte d'Ivoire, Benin, Burkina Faso, Niger and Togo. The Central Africa Zone (UNIFFAC) presents seven teams from its area: Cameroon, Congo, DR Congo, Gabon, Central African Republic, Sao Tome and Equatorial Guinea. UNAF has three teams -- Tunisia, Algeria and Egypt, with Morocco having already qualified.
*A version of this article appears in print in the 8 July, 2021 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly
