Leemisa Thuseho

THE LDF Ladies soccer team has welcomed the COSAFA Women’s Champions’ League draw after being drawn in Group A alongside Mamelodi Sundowns from South Africa, Double Action from Botswana and Manzini Wanderers of eSwatini.

The debut COSAFA club tournament will be held from 26 August to 4 September in South Africa.

The draw was held on Thursday in Johannesburg.

Zambian side Green Buffaloes will take on Black Rhinos Queens of Zimbabwe and Turu Magic from Namibia in the three-team Group B.

The top-two teams in each pool will advance to the semi-finals.

LDF Ladies assistant coach Lire Phiri this weekend said they were happy with the draw and will now focus on the preparations.

“We have seen the draw and we are happy with it,” Phiri said.

“What we must do now is to keep on working hard in preparing for the group opponents.

“Every team in that group is looking forward to doing its best to advance to the next stage, so we are also hoping to do our best. The only team we know about in our group is Sundowns, as for the others, we must start researching.”

The competing teams will be out in full force hoping to win a place at the Total CAF Women’s Champions League later this year in Egypt.

The Total CAF Women’s Champion League is due to be staged later in the year and the COSAFA competition will serve as its qualifier, with the winner advancing to the continental competition.

LDF will start their campaign on 26 August against Sundowns before facing Manzini Wanderers in their second match on 28 August. Their last group game will be against Double Action on 30 August.