CAF Women Champions League: Nigerian champions face Ghanaian foes in the hunt for continental honours

The draw for the regional qualifier has been concluded with Nigerian women league winners Rivers Angels pitted in the same group as their counterparts from Ghana and the Niger Republic

Nigerian Women’s Championship champions Rivers Angels have been drawn in Group B of the first WAFU-B Zonal qualifier of the CAF Women’s Champions League alongside Ghana’s Hasaacas Ladies and AS Police de Niamey of Niger.

The tournament, the female equivalent of the CAF Champions League, was created in June last year by Confederation of African Football.

The draw ceremony was supervised by WAFU administrative secretary Boureima Balima in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire, on Monday.

In Group A, Cote d’Ivoire’s Onze Soeurs de Gagnoa will trade tackles with Union Sportive des forces Armees of Burkina Faso and Amis du Monde Football Club of Togo.

Each group comprises three teams, while only the group winners will make it to the final tournament of the maiden edition of the CAFWCL to be held in Egypt later in the year.

The WAFU-B will be the only zone to produce two teams at the final tournament in Egypt, as the region is the home of the reigning champions of the Africa Women’s Cup of Nations, Nigeria.

The Super Falcons claimed the last edition of the AWCON in 2018 when they defeated South Africa in the final hosted by Ghana. The team is by far Africa’s most successful international women’s football team winning a record eleven Africa Women Cup of Nations titles.

Rivers Angels are one of Nigeria’s most successful female teams, winning the Nigeria Women Premier League seven times and the Nigerian Women’s Cup on eight occasions.

The Port Harcourt-based team has produced numerous footballing heroines for the country, including Olympic gold medalist Chioma Ajunwa, Stella Mbachu, and Barcelona forward Asisat Oshoala, a four-time winner of the African best player award.