Vihiga Queens left the country today early this morning ahead of the inaugural CAF Women’s Champions League finals set for November 5th-19th 2021 in Cairo, Egypt.
The three time Kenya women’s premier league champions begin their group B campaign against South Africa’s Mamelodi Sundowns on 6th November, then return for their second match against ASFAR Club of Morocco three days later. They wind up their campaign on 12th November against Rivers Angels of Nigeria.
Head coach Charles Okere is optimistic the team can make it out of the group following the preparations the squad has had. ‘’We have been in Camp for more than a month so we believe that with the good preparations that we have had we are going to have a very interesting tournament in Egypt’’, Okere remarked.
Vihiga qualified as CECAFA region representatives after emerging winners of an eight team tournament in September. ‘’That was a very good parameter for us to measure ourselves and also gave us an opportunity to build the capacity as fast women soccer development is concerned’’, added Okere who also doubles up national women’s soccer team head coach. Striker Gentrix Shikangwa, who helped the team to the continental finals with a brace in their 2-1 win against CBE of Ethiopia in the CECAFA region finals noted that they will rely on the intelligence shared by their coaches in the tournament.
"We will follow instructions given to us by the coaches and in matches we will use the information they have given us," Shikangwa said. "In Egypt I am aiming to become the tournament’s top scorer."
Defender Enez Mango who will captain the Western based outfit at the tournament said the team is targeting to win the finals with their eyes first set on the semi final slot. "We are aiming to first reach the semi finals and the final. I am urging Kenyan fans to support us and we promise we won’t let them down," Enez said.
The competition will be held across two venues in the capital, 30 June Stadium and Cairo Military Academy Stadium, between 5 and 19 November. Egypt will be represented in the competition by Wadi Degla women's team, who qualified to the competition as the champions of last season's domestic League. "We are starting a new chapter with our Ladies team taking part in the first ever TotalEnergies CAF Women's Champions League as the Champions of Egypt." Maged Samy, Wadi Degla president, stated.
Wadi Degla are placed in Group A alongside AS Mande from Mali, Malabo Kings of Equatorial Guinea and Ghana's Hasaacas Ladies.
The tournament kicks off on Friday with hosts Wadi Degla opening their campaign against AS Mande of Mali. Malabo Kings of Equatorial Guinea play Hasaacas Ladies of Ghana to complete the group A fixtures scheduled on day 1 of the championship. The semi final is scheduled 15th November with the final set to be held four days later at Cairo’s Al Salam stadium.