Chippa United boss Siviwe Mpengesi is known for juggling many balls and will now add another to the mix as he pursues the establishment of his club’s women’s team.
With the South African Football Association (Safa) stating in 2023 that all Premier Soccer League (PSL) clubs will be compelled to have a women’s team come 2030, Mpengesi has indicated the club is working flat-out to get the first professional women’s team for the Eastern Cape.
As the province’s lone club in the DStv Premiership, Chippa United have access to playing matches at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Gqeberha and Buffalo City Stadium in East London. Mpengesi says he plans to base the women’s team in East London.
The Chilli Boys played their first match in seven years at the revamped Buffalo City Stadium when they hosted Cape Town City in drawn a DStv Premiership match at the weekend.
“We are already planning that and the idea we have is to have that team based in the Buffalo City municipality,” Mpengesi said in an exclusive interview with the Daily Dispatch.
“We will soon announce that after we have reached the advanced stage because we are still working out the details.”
Mamelodi Sundowns, TS Galaxy and Royal AM are the only DStv Premiership clubs who have women’s teams playing in the Hollywoodbets Super League, while SuperSport are in a partnership with Tshwane University of Technology to create TUT Matsatsantsa Ladies.
Kaizer Chiefs are another top-flight side who expressed an interest in forming a women’s division within the club.
After Banyana’s historic Fifa Women’s World Cup performance in Australia and New Zealand where the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations champions made the last 16 for the first time, coach Desiree Ellis has been vocal about the need for SA to have a women’s professional league.
Thunderbirds Ladies and City Lads are the only two teams representing the province in the Hollywoodbets Super League, while the majority of the Eastern Cape teams are in the Sasol League.
Sundowns have been the feeders of Banyana and had six players in the squad at that World Cup.
SA has two semi-professional women’s leagues, the Hollywoodbets Super League, which is the top flight, and the second-tier Sasol League.
Ellis said to get a competitive women’s league, the PSL team needed to step up and establish women’s teams.
Safa president Danny Jordaan shared the same sentiment, saying it is part of the association’s “Vision 2030” to ensure that every club in the PSL has a women’s team.
Caf also announced that teams with no women’s side will not be allowed to participate in continental club competitions from 2023.
Thunderbirds Ladies and City Lads are the only two teams representing the province in the Hollywoodbets Super League, while the majority of the Eastern Cape teams are in the Sasol League.
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