Defending champions Ntopwa Women
* Champions will represent Malawi at the CAF Women’s Champions League COSAFA qualifiers later in the year
* At the 2024 COSAFA qualifier, Malawi was represented by Ntopwa Women where they gained rich experience and exposure
Maravi Express
The much-awaited for Goshen Women’s National Championship 2023 is all set to be played from this Monday May 13-19 at Bingu National Stadium in Lilongwe that pits 10 teams from all regions.
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A report from Football Association of Malawi (FAM) says the week-long event — whose matches will be free of charge — will commence with the two-second playoffs as Silver Strikers Ladies will face CY Sisters in the opening match at noon, while Civil Service Women will take on Mighty Wanderers Queens from 15:00 later in the day.
On the second day, May 14, there will be two quarterfinal matches with Ascent Academy facing defending champions Kukoma Ntopwa Women in a repeat of last year’s final which Ntopwa won on post-match penalties.
Later on, 2022 champions Nyasa Big Bullets will take on MDF Lioness while two other two quarterfinals will be played on Wednesday where the winner of playoff 2 between Civil Women and Mighty Wanderers Queens will take on MK Academy with Moyale Sisters facing the winner between Silver Strikers Ladies and CY Sisters.
The semifinal will take place on Friday with the third place playoff and final slated for Sunday — whose champions will represent Malawi at the CAF Women’s Champions League COSAFA qualifiers later in the year.
At the 2024 CAF Women’s Champions League COSAFA qualifier, Malawi was represented by Ntopwa Women where they gained rich experience and exposure as they were pitted against the best in the COSAFA region — grouped together with defending champions then, Green Buffaloes of Zambia alongside Botswana’s Double Action Ladies and Lesotho Defence Force.
The other group B had Mamelodi Sundowns (South Africa); Olympic de Moroni (Comoros); Costa do Sol (Mozambique) and Young Buffaloes (eSwatini).
In their opening match, they drew 1-1 with Lesotho Defence Force in which they had led from the 45th minute through Vanessa Chikupira only to give in with four minutes to full time — having missed a lot of chances including a penalty.
They exited the tournament following their 0-4 loss to Botswana’s Double Action Ladies but the international experience and exposure was taken note of by Ntopwa’s coach, James Sangala attested that there were a number of lessons that were drawn from the championship.
“Our girls are good but are not strong enough like the other teams,” he told Fam.mw after the exit. “As we go back home, we will look at our recruitment plan to have players who are physically strong.
“This is a big stage that needs experienced players and we hope our girls will go back home differently having seen how tough the competition is at international level and obviously, we will come back stronger next time.”—Reporting by Fam.mw and edited by Maravi Express
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