The CAF Ladies’s Champions League | COSAFA Qualifier Botswana 2026 will likely be performed in Gaborone from August 20-29. There are eight groups competing this 12 months as all of them search the one place reserved for the winners on the CAF Ladies’s Champions League continental finals.
Listed below are profiles of two of the groups: debutantes Silver Strikers from Malawi and final 12 months’s runners-up ZESCO United Women.
SILVER STRIKERSSilver Strikers Girls will make their debut on the CAF Ladies’s Champions League | COSAFA Qualifier after they journey to Gaborone for the 2026 event, however they arrive with a rising fame following an excellent home marketing campaign.
The Lilongwe-based facet certified after profitable the inaugural Nationwide Financial institution of Malawi Ladies’s Premiership, turning into the third Malawian membership to compete within the regional qualifier after Ntopwa FC and Ascent Soccer Academy.
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Silver Strikers Girls have been drawn in a tricky Group B alongside two-time regional and continental champions Mamelodi Sundowns of South Africa, Mozambique’s Costa do Sol and fellow debutantes Nsingizini Hotspurs from Eswatini. The highest two groups within the pool will advance to the semi-finals.
Their first match will likely be towards Costa do Sol as they search to turn out to be the primary Malawian membership to progress past the group phases of the competitors.
The Silver Strikers Girls identify is comparatively new, however the group has deeper roots in Malawian ladies’s soccer. They have been previously generally known as DD Sunshine earlier than turning into a part of the Silver Strikers set-up in 2023. The previous DD Sunshine membership performed an necessary position within the growth of Malawi stars Tabitha and Temwa Chawinga, who’ve gone on to turn out to be two of the most important names in African ladies’s soccer.
The Central Bankers Girls narrowly missed out on home honours after they misplaced the 2024 Goshen-FAM Ladies’s Championship closing to Ntopwa on penalties following a 1-1 attract March 2025, however responded in type within the new nationwide league.
Beneath coach Andrew Chikhosi, Silver Strikers gained 16 of their 18 matches on the best way to the inaugural NBM Ladies’s Premiership crown. Chikhosi’s work earned him the 2025 Malawi Ladies’s Coach of the 12 months award.
Their greatest attacking menace is ahead Deborah Henry, who loved a sensational league season. She scored 23 objectives in 18 appearances, ending because the competitors’s main scorer, and was rewarded with each the NBM Ladies’s Premiership Participant of the Season and Malawi Ladies’s Participant of the 12 months awards.
There may be additionally loads of worldwide expertise within the squad. 5 Silver Strikers gamers have been chosen in Malawi’s 23-player squad for the TotalEnergies CAF Ladies’s Africa Cup of Nations Morocco 2026: defenders Ireen Khumalo and Tionge Phiri, midfielders Madyina Nguluwe and Chikondi Gondwe, and Henry.
That have ought to show precious after they step into unfamiliar territory in Gaborone.
Chikhosi is underneath no illusions in regards to the problem of their pool, however believes his facet can compete after an prolonged interval of preparation.
“We anticipated such a tricky draw. All of the groups are champions of their respective international locations,” he mentioned. “We’ve got an excellent group that may compete.”
ZESCO NDOLA GIRLS
ZESCO Ndola Women return to the CAF Ladies’s Champions League | COSAFA Qualifier in Gaborone with unfinished enterprise after coming agonisingly near the regional title on their event debut in 2025.
The Ndola-based facet have been one of many revelations of final 12 months’s competitors in Johannesburg, reaching the ultimate earlier than shedding 4-3 on penalties to Gaborone United Girls after a 1-1 draw.
They return as back-to-back Zambia Ladies’s Tremendous League champions and can hope to go one higher and turn out to be the second Zambian membership after Inexperienced Buffaloes in 2022 to win the regional crown.
ZESCO’s rise has been spectacular. They broke Inexperienced Buffaloes’ four-year grip on the Zambian championship after they claimed their maiden league title in 2024/25, going by the whole 34-game marketing campaign unbeaten with 31 victories and three attracts. Penelope Mulubwa led their cost with a rare 35 league objectives.
They efficiently defended that title in 2025/26, sealing back-to-back championships with a 7-0 victory over Luyando Basis Women in Might that took them to an unassailable 85 factors.
Their first style of the COSAFA qualifier in 2025 proved equally spectacular. ZESCO opened with a 3-0 victory over Namibia’s Beauties FC earlier than struggling a slender 1-0 loss to two-time champions Mamelodi Sundowns. They then beat Malawi’s Ntopwa FC 5-3 to advance to the semi-finals as one of the best runners-up.
That arrange a rematch with Sundowns, the place the Zambian champions produced one of many event’s greatest shocks. ZESCO defeated the South African giants 2-1 to ebook their place within the closing and hand Sundowns what stays their solely defeat in odd time within the historical past of the COSAFA qualifiers.
They got here inside moments of lifting the trophy towards Gaborone United. An personal objective from Jackline Chomba gave the Botswana facet the lead simply earlier than halftime, however Fridah Kabwe headed residence a dramatic late equaliser after a long-range effort had struck the crossbar. With the rating nonetheless 1-1 after extra-time, Gaborone United prevailed 4-3 within the penalty shoot-out to disclaim ZESCO a spot on the continental finals.
They’ll have an instantaneous alternative for revenge in Gaborone after being drawn in a tough Group A alongside defending champions and hosts Gaborone United, Zimbabwe’s Herentals Queens and Lesotho Defence Power.
ZESCO have ready extensively for his or her second regional marketing campaign, together with a coaching camp in Dar es Salaam with pleasant matches towards Tanzanian heavyweights JKT Queens and Simba Queens.
Their squad additionally comprises gamers with senior worldwide expertise, together with captain Chitundu, Phiri and goalkeeper Hazel Nali, who have been concerned with Zambia’s Copper Queens on the TotalEnergies CAF Ladies’s Africa Cup of Nations Morocco 2026.
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TOURNAMENT FINISHES2025 – Runners-up
2024 – Didn’t qualify
2023 – Didn’t qualify
2022 – Didn’t qualify
2021 – Didn’t qualify
GOALSCORERS4 objectives – E. Phiri
2 objectives – Chitundu, Kabwe
1 objective – Milambo, Mubanga, Mulubwa
HAT-TRICKS
None
RECORDS AND SEQUENCESBiggest win: 3-0 vs Beauties FC (2025)
Heaviest defeat: 0-1 vs Mamelodi Sundowns (2025)
Highest scoring match: 5-3 vs Ntopwa (2025)
Longest profitable run: 2 video games (26-08-25 to 29-08-25)
Longest shedding run: 1 recreation (from 24-08-25 to 26-08-25)
Longest unbeaten run: 3 video games (26-08-25 to current)
Longest run and not using a win: 1 recreation (twice)
Complete clear sheets: 1 match (20%)
Complete failed to attain: 1 match (20%)
Most objectives scored in a contest: 11 (2025)
Most objectives conceded in a contest: 6 (2025)
Group stage wins: 2 out of three (67%)
Knockout stage wins: 1 out of two (50%)