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Sports Writer

ZIFA Normalisation Committee is set to appoint the Mighty Warriors coach this Thursday.
The gaffer is expected to quickly select the players that will go into camp early next week ahead of the Cosafa Women’s Championship.

The regional tournament will run from October 4 to 15 in South Africa, Gauteng province.

The southern regional tournament will be the first competition for Zimbabwean senior women’s football since the country was re-admitted into international football recently.

According to Normalisation Committee member Rosemary Mugadza, they have short-listed three coaches. The interviews will take place today and tomorrow.

The Committee chaired by Lincoln Mutasa is then expected to appoint the coach.
Zimbabwe missed the 2022 Women’s Championships edition due to suspension.

“We are expecting to appoint the coach on Thursday. We will have the interviews on Tuesday and Wednesday then on Thursday, we will put the coach in place.

“As the Normalisation Committee, we want the Mighty Warriors to be in camp for two weeks. The team is scheduled to arrive in South Africa on the 3rd, so we hope by Monday they will be getting into camp,” said Mugadza.

The Mighty Warriors are in the same group as Namibia, Botswana and Lesotho. 12 countries will battle for the title with the top team in each group qualifying automatically for the semi-finals as well as the best runner from all the three groups.

Record winners and hosts South Africa are in Group A alongside Malawi, Madagascar and Eswatini while Group B has Zambia, Mozambique, Angola and Comoros.

The Mighty Warriors who won the Championship once in 2011 when they hosted the regional tournament at Rufaro stadium have a lot of work to do to reclaim the past glory.

They last participated in the tournament in 2021 where they failed to progress beyond the group stage.

The other countries that have won the regional title once are Zambia who are the defending champions while perennial East African guests Tanzania won the title in 2021.

South Africa’s Banyana Banyana are the record winners having won seven of the previous 10 Championships.

Meanwhile, the Zimbabwe Women’s Football Super League entered Match Day 18 with routine victories from pacesetters Herentals Queens who beat MSU Queens 1-0 at Motor Action Sports Club.

The Students consolidated their position and have 45 points from 17 matches. They are followed by Harare City Queens who have 45 points from 18 games. Black Rhinos Queens are third with 40 points having played 16 games. Chapungu Queens also have 40 points from 16 games and Correctional Queens are fifth placed with 39 points from 17 outings.

Results

Herentals Queens 1, MSU Queens 0; Platinum Royals 1, Chipembere Queens 1; Correctional Queens 3, Yadah Queens 0; Shine Shine Queens 0, Harare City Queens 3 (walkover), Queen Lozikeyi 1, Maningi Youth Academy 1.

Log Standings
P    W    D    L    F    A    Pts
Herentals    17    14    3    0    80    6    45
City Queens    18    14    3    1    62    13    45
Rhinos Queens    16    13    1    2    78    8    40
Chapungu    16    13    1    2    53    6    40
Correctional    17    12    3    2    39    5    39
Royals    17    10    4    3    41    12    34
Mambas    16    7    1    8    29    25    22
Chipembere    17    6    4    7    28    30    22
Faithdrive    16    6    2    8    24    26    20
Maningi Youth    17    6    2    9    23    32    20
MSU Queens    17    6    1    10    17    25    19
Yadah Queens    16    5    0    11    17    33    15
Conduit Soccer    17    3    3    11    14    45    12
Borrow St Jets    15    2    0    13    8    59    6
Shine Queens    18    1    1    16    6    88    4
Queen Lozikeyi    18    1    1    16    9    115    4