Tanzania’s Jeshi la Kujenga Taifa (KJT) Queens will represent CECAFA Zone at this year’s CAF Women’s Champions League set for November in Egypt.
The Tanzanian women’s league champions secured their ticket to the continental championship after beating their Rwandese equals Rayon Sports FC 1-0 in the region’s qualifiers final played at Kasarani Stadium on Tuesday.
Winfrida Gerald scored JKT Queens’ winning goal in the fifth minute of the game.
With the victory, the Tanzanian league champions will now make their second appearance, having made their debut in 2023.
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Their conquest affirmed head coach Azishi Kondo’s words that they were in the competition to win and qualify for the champions league.
In an earlier interview, Kondo had revealed that they were also out to beat the Kenyan champions Kenya Police Bullets FC. True to his words JKT Queens achieved their objectives by eliminating Police in the semis and also bagging the region’s lone ticket.
Having tested the joy of playing on the African stage, JKT Queens seemed to have gone into the match with a clear strategy.
Score an early goal, take the lead and defend well as you push for more goals. Gerald put them in the lead five minutes from the whistle after beating defenders to fire the ball past goalkeeper Angeline Ndakimana.
The JKT backline Lydia Kabambo, Sara Joel, Ester Marwa and Christer Bahera ensured that goalkeeper Najiati Idrisa was not under any serious threat from Rayon Sports attackers.
Gerald beat two defenders to slot the ball behind keeper Angeline Ndakimana and give her side an early advantage.
Rayon put up a spirited fight in hunt for an equaliser but JKT thwarted every effort they made and protected their lead to force the narrow win.
Kenya Police Bullets beat Kampala Queens 1-0 to settle for third place. Margret Kunihira scored Bullets all-important goal in the 25th minute.
The Kenyans had defeated the Ugandan champions by the same margin in their opening Group A match.
The Kenyans who were hoping to improve on last year’s second-place finish and book their ticket to the continental tournament will have to try again in 2026. However, they must retain their FKF Women’s Premier to qualify for the regional qualifiers.
Last year, Kenya Police had finished second after losing by a solitary goal to Ethiopian champions Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE) in the final played at the latter’s home turf.
CBE were eliminated in the preliminaries after finishing at the bottom of Group B with one point.
They had their hopes crushed when they lost to JKT Queens 4-2 in post-match penalties after their semis clash had ended in a one-all draw in extra time. Kampala Queens had fallen 3-4 to Rwandese champions Rayon Sports in post-match penalties. The two sides had battled to a barren draw in extra time.