2023 CAF Women's CL: CECAFA Zonal Qualifiers fixtures confirmed

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Uganda's football governing body FUFA released Thursday the confirmed fixtures for the CECAFA Zonal Qualifiers for the 2023 CAF Women's Champions League.

Uganda will host the qualifiers from August 12 until August 30, with a total of 10 days of action and nine rest days across the competition.

The zonal contest will feature nine teams — grouped into two — representing nine nations: Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Zanzibar, Rwanda, Burundi, South Sudan, Ethiopia and Djibouti.

Group A will have Kampala Queens (Uganda), Yei Joint Stars (South Sudan), CBE (Ethiopia), Buja Queens (Burundi) and FAD (Djibouti).

Group B will feature JKT Queens (Tanzania), AS Kigali Women (Rwanda), New Generation (Zanzibar) and Vihiga Queens (Kenya).

Across the competition, FTC Njeru will host 15 matches, including all the knockout games, while five games will be played at Phillip Omondi Stadium, Lugogo.

The overall winner of this tournament will represent CECAFA at the 2023 CAF Women's Champions League in Ivory Coast, which will take place from November 5 to November 19.

The CECAFA representative will join seven other teams at the finals, including five fellow zonal winners, the host nation's league-winning team and the tournament's reigning champions (AS FAR of Morocco).

That means a total of eight teams will compete at the third edition of Africa's premier women’s tournament in Ivory Coast, the first time it will be hosted in West Africa.

It will also be seen as a test of the country’s football infrastructure ahead of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, which will also be held there in early 2024.

Can Kampala Queens make it all the way?

Kampala Queens will be the third Ugandan side to try and qualify for the finals.

In the debut qualifiers in 2021, Lady Doves were knocked out at the semifinal stage by Ethiopia's CBE via a penalty shootout. CBE went on to lose to Kenya's Vihiga Queens in the final.

Last year, She Corporate made it all the way to the final of the qualifiers, but lost 0-1 to Tanzania's Simba Queens.

So will it be a case of third time's a charm for Uganda? 

Kampala Queens, the latest winners of the FUFA Women Super League, have their work cut out. They will open their campaign against Yei Joint Stars of South Sudan at FTC Njeru on the opening day of the competition (August 12).

Three days later, the Ugandan side will face Burundi's Buja Queens also in Njeru, in the early kickoff of the day.

It will be another three days until the hosts return to action — and this time it will be against Ethiopian side CBE on match day 3.

Kampala Queens will wrap up their group action with a duel against FAD of Djibouti and hoping for a top-two group finish that would send them into the last-four.

The competition will take a two-day breather for the continuing teams to rest, before the semifinals get under way on August 27.

The first semifinal will pit the top-ranked team in Group B against the second-ranked team of Group A.

The second semifinal will have the leader of Group A face off with the second-ranked side of Group B.

Both games will be played on the same day, three hours apart.

After a two-day rest, on August 30, the third-place contest and the final will be hosted at FTC Njeru, where the identity of CECAFA's representative for the big one will be known.