THE WOMEN’S LEAGUE IN SOUTH AFRICA CONTINUES

Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies will begin their Hollywoodbets Super League title defence on Sunday as South Africa’s women’s top-flight league kicks off today, 23 April.

This is the third instalment of the semi-professional league which will see two more teams, Vasco da Gama and City Lads joining the competition to take the number to 16 clubs.

The inaugural season in 2019 had 12 teams from the nine provinces of South Africa with Sundonws and Bloemfontein Celtic getting an automatic pass to the league as they were the only teams in the Premier Soccer League that already had women’s team. Over the last two seasons, two teams from the Sasol League National Championship have been promoted to the Super League. Also, this will be the first season where the bottom two teams will get relegated back to the Sasol League while the finalists of the Championship will be promoted to the top tier league.

The Super League will run from the end of April to the beginning of December 2022.

Jerry Tshabalala’s side will have a tough season ahead as they have three competitions to defend, the CAF Champions League and the Cosafa titles.

“We are bracing ourselves for a tough season. We have three titles to defend and what like about Mamelodi Sundowns is that we play well under pressure. I believe that it works well for us. We are a big team, we enjoy playing under pressure. We always want to be challenged, we want to play when we are out of our comfort zones,” says Tshabalala.

Sundowns open the season against former Noko Matlou and Lebohang Ramalepe’s team, Ma-Indies Ladies.

“It’s the first time ever that we start the season away from home, it’s a challenge that we have to face. We have prepared well, we started the preparations sometime around the 17th of January, so the girls are ready, mentally, physically we are ready to go away to Ma-Indies,” adds Tshabalala.

Ma-Indies coach Sipho Mabuza says although it will be a challenge starting season against defending champions, they are up for the challenge.

“They are the defending champions for last season but it’s a new season, it’s a new thing. We have prepared well against them, and we expect a good game, very good football. I know coach Jerry personally and he knows me very well. We share the same style of play but I expect that they will come at us and we will go at them. We hope the weather will play in our favour,” says Mabuza.

The prize money structure for the new season has not yet been announced. Last year, Banyana BaStyle walked away with $129 936 (R2 000 000) while runners up, Tshwane University of Technology $64 984 (R1 000 000) and the 14 other teams took $9 752 each. The winners of the season will also get a chance to visit and play Brentford Women’s First Team.

Opening weekend fixtures

Saturday 23 April

• Bloemfontein Celtic vs Vasco da Gama
• City Lads vs University of the Western Cape
• Coal City Wizards vs University of Johannesburg
• Golden Ladies vs Thunderbirds Ladies
• JVW FC vs Richmond United

Sunday 24 April

• First Touch Academy vs Tsunami Queens
• Ma-Indies Ladies vs Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies

*Due to the devastating floods in the KwaZulu Natal, the match between Durban Ladies and Tshwane University of Technology is yet to be confirmed.