MIGHTY Warriors skipper Emmaculate Msipa has appealed for the resumption of the Zimbabwe Women’s Soccer League to give players the much-needed competition after a two-year break.
Msipa joined Turkish Super League side Fatih Karagümrük late last year and had a good start when the games kicked-off in that country in December.
The Zimbabwean midfielder has expressed her desire to see more local female footballers breaking through to competitive foreign leagues.
She said the resumption of the local league competition is critical for the players to remain active and makes life easier when they are called for national duty.
“My wish is to see the Zimbabwe Women’s Soccer League resuming in 2022. That way, players remain active and when they are called for national duty, they are in good shape and ready to compete.
“I also just want to encourage female footballers in Zimbabwe to keep focused and working hard so that they can also reach their full potential and may end up playing in Europe, that’s my wish.
“I believe and I know that in Zimbabwe there is great talent. There are talented female footballers, even when you look at the competition this side, you can see that certain players from back home are actually good enough to breakthrough.
“So I wish our women’s league in Zimbabwe could start so that players are always getting the much-needed competition, so that everyone is ready for any tournament that would be played. You never know when scouts come to watch some of these games,” said Msipa.
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The league was last played in 2019 and failed to kick-off in 2020 due to Covid-19. It was the same story last year. Msipa said she would also want the senior women’s national team to qualify for the 2022 Africa Women Cup of Nations and is hopeful they are going to secure their place this time around.
The Mighty Warriors are on course to qualification for the continental show-piece after they pulled through to the first round when they beat Eswatini 6-1 on aggregate.
They now have a date against Botswana in the second qualifying round. The ties are due to take place next month.
“I just hope that we will qualify for the Africa Cup of Nations. I hope we will win our last round matches against Botswana. I hope we are going to make it,” said Msipa.
The Mighty Warriors missed the 2018 edition, when they went down to Zambia, in the final qualifying round. In 2020, the tournament was called off due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Botswana beat Angola 7-1 on aggregate in the first round, to advance to the next round as well. The winners from this round will qualify for the Africa Women’s Cup of Nations, set to take place in Morocco.
The tournament is also serving as a qualifier for the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup to be jointly hosted by Australia and New Zealand.
The top four teams qualify for the World Cup and two more teams will have a chance to qualify for the global event if they win the inter-confederation play-offs.
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