Vihiga Queens land JKT, Kigali and New Generation in Champions League qualifying draw

Kenya Women Premier League champions Vihiga Queens will begin their campaign to participate in the 2023 CAF Women’s Champions League with a clash against Zanzibar outfit New Generation FC on 13 August.

This is following the draw for the CECAFA Zonal qualifiers conducted on Wednesday July in Rabat, Morocco.

Queens will then play AS Kigali Women from Rwanda in the second Group game before wrapping up their Group B matches against JKT Queens from Tanzania.

Group A will have five teams led by Kampala Queens (Uganda), Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (Ethiopia), FC FAD (Djibouti), Buja Queens (Burundi) and Yei Joint Stars (South Sudan).

Uganda is set to host the zonal qualifiers from 12 August to 29 August with the winner punching the sole ticket to represent the region at the continental showpiece.

Kenya missed the chance to send a representative last year as the country was serving a FIFA suspension at the time.

However, Vihiga Queens will be hoping to return with a bang having won the inaugural regional tournament in 2021 and represented the CECAFA region at the main event in Egypt.

The CAF Women's Champions League main event is set to be held in Cote d’Ivoire with the date yet to be confirmed.

At the CAF Women’s Champions League finals last year, the winners ASFAR (Morocco) bagged a cash prize of USD 400 000, an equivalent of Ksh 56,300,000 while the runners-up Mamelodi Sundowns received USD 250 000 (Ksh 35,187,500).

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The losing semi-finalists received USD 200 000 (Ksh 28,150,000) each.

Group A matches will be played at the FUFA Technical Centre in Njeru, Jinja while Group B games will be staged at the KCCA Stadium in Kampala.

Pools

Group A – Kampala Queens, Commercial Bank of Ethiopia, FC FAD, Buja Queens, Yei Joint Stars

Group B – JKT Queens, Vihiga Queens, AS Kigali, New Generation

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CECAFA Zone Qualifiers confirmed teams

Vihiga Queens (Kenya), Kampala Queens (Uganda), Central Bank of Ethiopia FC (Ethiopia), AS Kigali (Rwanda), Yei joint Stars (South Sudan), JKT Queens FC (Tanzania), Buja Queens FC (Burundi), FAD Club (Djibouti), and New Generation FC (Zanzibar).