CAF: Plans afoot to expand Women’s Champions League

However, she was quick to add that before all that happens, a lot of issues must first be addressed – among them, getting more clubs involved in the qualifiers so as to improve competition. 

Goshime says Africa wants to send a very strong representatives to the upcoming inaugural FIFA Women’s Club World Cup in 2026.

"For the expansion, we also want to see how many clubs are engaged – right now, we have grown from, I think, 33 when we started to 36, but we want more member associations engaging in the qualifiers before we can push it forward," said Goshime.

"But yes, this is the future plan to make sure that it's expanded, especially now that we have the World Cup of clubs, we want to make sure we have strong representation.

"And once we have determined who is the [African] champion, or who is going to the World Cup, we will make sure that those clubs are supported, have friendlies available for them, so that they can strongly represent Africa.

"But for now, we're really focusing on making sure that we develop this strong brand of Women's Champions League, making it competitive, because when you are eight [teams] you also make sure the ones reaching the final is very strong.

"So before moving to expansion, we want to make sure we have more engagement from our member associations, and we're really working on domestic leagues, making sure they are administrated very well.

"For example, in the last Women's Champions League qualifiers, we went with the zonal unions and made sure the clubs understand what professional football looks like."

READ: CAF increases CAF Women’s Champions League prize money