Zambian side Green Buffaloes have received a massive boost with the news that the Women’s National League will resume this coming weekend, giving them vital match fitness ahead of the TotalEnergies CAF Women’s Champions League l COSAFA Qualifier.
Buffaloes will represent Zambia in the inaugural regional Champions League competition, which serves as a ticket to the continental finals for the winner. It will be played in Durban from August 26-September 4.
And before then, the team will get to test their readiness with three domestic games, a huge boost for coach Charles Haalubono with many of their competitors in Durban still idle with no league in their own countries on the go due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Buffaloes will meet Lusaka Dynamos Ladies on Saturday in their first game back in the Women’s National League, before a clash with ZISD Women Football Club next Wednesday.
Their final match before they head to South Africa for the regional Champions League will be against Indeni Roses on August 21.
Meanwhile, the squad also got a boost this week when national team star Barbra Banda arrived at training to wish the team well.
Banda set the Olympics alight with six goals in Zambia’s three matches, including hat-tricks against the Netherlands and China. She was the first African women to score a hat-trick at the Olympics.
She proved her status as among the most outstanding players on the African continent, and her words of encouragement will mean a lot to the Buffaloes players.
“Superstar and 2020 Olympics record breaker Barbra Banda visited Green Buffaloes Women’s Football Club this morning during training session and encouraged the girls to work hard and to put more effort to achieve their goals,” the club said in a statement.
The Lusaka-based army team will be among the favourites in the TotalEnergies CAF Women’s Champions League l COSAFA Qualifier having been seeded in Group B, where they will take on Black Rhinos Queens of Zimbabwe and TURA Magic from Namibia, with the top two in the pool advancing to the semifinals.
The club have some recognizable names, such as defenders Lushomo Mweemba, Martha Tembo and Anita Mulenga, and midfielders Ireen Lungu and Agness Musase, who were all part of the Zambia side that performed so well in Tokyo. They have also had national team stalwart Rachael Nachura training with the squad.
