Lesotho women’s team captain Boitumelo Rabale has her eyes on winning her second CAF Women’s Champions League with Mamelodi Sundowns as the tournament gets underway this weekend.
The third edition of the prestigious women’s club football is scheduled for Ivory Coast from November 5-19, where eight clubs will battle it out to be crowned Queens of the continent.

“Queen”, as the Lesotho star is commonly known, was part of the Sundowns squad that was crowned champions of the inaugural edition of the tournament held in Egypt two years ago, becoming the first player from the Mountain Kingdom to taste Champions League success.
She has become one of the key players in Jerry Tshabalala’s squad having walked away with the Hollywoodbets Player of the Season in the previous campaign and currently leads the goal-scoring charts with 21 goals.

“It was exciting to win the CAF Women’s Champions League with Sundowns two years ago and in the process becoming the first player from Lesotho to do so,” Rabale said.

“I felt very lucky and honoured to make history. It gave me confidence to continue working hard and strive for more success with the club”
Sundowns head to the tournament as regional champions after clinching the COSAFA qualifiers to qualify for the continental showpiece, where they will kickstart their campaign against Tanzania’s JKT Queens on Sunday.

Rabale admitted that memories of losing the last final to AS FAR still haunts them, but they head to Ivory Coast a better team than in the last tournament.

“We learnt the hard way when we lost in the final to AS FAR and we come back a better team having rectified our mistakes.

“It’s our dream to conquer the continent again and I have no doubt that we have what it takes to get our second star in Ivory Coast.

“It will be very good to add the second CAF Champions League medal to my trophy cabinet,” she said.

The 27-year-old has been prolific for Sundowns this campaign having scored nine goals in her last five matches to take her tally for this campaign to 21 goals.
Sundowns are in Group A alongside tournament hosts, Athletico Abidjan, Sporting Casablanca of Morocco, as well as Tanzania’s JKT Queen.

Since joining Sundowns in 2021, Rabale has won the Hollywoodbets Super League twice, the COSAFA Zonal qualifiers twice as well as the CAF Women’s Champions League and is the reigning Hollywoodbets Player of the season.

Tlalane Phahla

Women Super League (WSL) giants Lesotho Defence Force (LDF) Ladies and Kick4Life Ladies have avoided each other in the WSL Top 4 knockout competition.
The two-day showpiece takes centre stage this weekend at Bambatha Tšita Sports Arena and it will see last season’s top four finishers in the league – LDF, Kick4Life, Lijabatho and Lesotho Mounted Police Service (LMPS) Ladies – go head-to-head for bragging rights.

The draw for the competition took place last Friday and the semi-finals will see LDF go up against Lijabatho while Kick4Life will take on LMPS Ladies.
Both semi-finals will be played on Saturday with the tournament culminating the following day.

Sunday’s proceedings will kick-off with a third-place playoff game to determine who walks away with the bronze medals before the final later in the day.
All four games over the two days will be streamed on the FIFA+ website and the WSL Top 4 will usher in a new sponsor this year.

In the past, the Lesotho Football Association (LEFA) fully bankrolled the competition, however, Computer Business Solutions (CBS) has come on board with a sponsorship for the first time.

The competition’s prize monies have not been revealed because they are still being finalised, but, speaking at last Friday’s draw, LEFA’s associations secretary general, Mokhosi Mohapi, said the relationship with CBS is one that sport should engage in.
Mohapi added his hopes that the relationship will be a long-term one.

“While others are busy at their thing, we should really grow ours so that when their distraction finally ends, they find us as united as we can be as the football community,” Mohapi said.
“(We should be) united by the efforts and inputs that emanate from the business community, especially when it is a truly Lesotho business entity because other (foreign entities) are here to take money,” he said.

Addressing CBS as the tournament’s sponsor, Mohapi said: “We are thankful as LEFA for your initiative; (we) hope you will be in this marriage quite long. We know we are just testing the waters but we have a lot that can entice you to stay longer, not only my command but the instruments that we have.”

Mohapi said LEFA’s dream is that in two years’ time all league matches will be streaming on the FIFA+ platform which was launched last April by football’s world governing body to increase exposure of men and women’s football around the globe.

Currently, only three grounds in the country have the structures for broadcasting; Bambatha as well as the grounds at LDF and Lesotho Correctional Service grounds, and all are in Maseru.
LEFA plans to add more grounds to the list with the DIFA facilities in Maputsoe and Mohale’s Hoek set to be the first to follow suit.

“All our women’s competitions, cup competitions and (Vodacom) Premier League matches that will be played in those stadia that have our infrastructure – we will be able to stream those games internationally,” Mohapi said.

“We have extended our footprint,” he added.

“We are now doing LDF – we have already put up the structure – then we are moving to Maputsoe and, hopefully, Mohale’s Hoek. It is our desire that in two years’ time we will hopefully cover all the matches and put them on the FIFA+ streaming platform.”

WSL Top 4 fixtures:
Semi-finals:
Saturday (Bambatha)
Lijabatho Ladies vs. LDF Ladies
LMPS Ladies vs. Kick4Life Ladies

Tlalane Phahla

The football fraternity in the Kingdom of Lesotho is mourning the death of former national team and LDF defender, Moeketsi ‘Lulu’ Seema, who died after a long illness at 74.

The late Seema, who was affectionately known as “Lulu” within the football circles, was also the father to former Likuena captain Lehlohonolo Seema.

He played for his country from the 1960s going into the 1970s when the team was called the national side and just like his son, played in the heart of defence when he partnered the likes of the late Moremoholo ‘Blue’ Moshoeshoe, who also recently died.

His son Lehlohonolo is one of the most decorated footballers to have come out of the country having had a career spanning almost two decades playing in South Africa, where he captained Bloemfontein Celtic and Orlando Pirates.

He was a member of the Likuena squad that first reached the final of the COSAFA Cup in 2000, a feat that has recently been replicated by Leslie Notsi’s Likuena coached side at the 2023 COSAFA Cup.
An emotional Lehlohonolo, who has had an impressive start to his tenure as the coach of Polokwane City in the DSTV Premiership, paid his tribute to his father, who he said mentored him well to have become a successful player and coach in South Africa.

“I never got to watch him play as I was too young but obviously, I followed in his footsteps falling in love with the beautiful game at a very young age while growing up at Makoanyane,” Seema said.

“He had a big influence on me becoming a footballer and a professional and I will forever be grateful for his mentorship as my father.”

Seema stated that among the many things that his father taught him was to always be respectful and humble, which he believes played a big role in him having a successful career.
Despite the death of his father, Seema has had to spend his mourning days away from home in Polokwane with his busy schedule of football, where over the weekend his side registered a thumping 4-1 win over SuperSport United in the Carling Black Label Cup.

“I was very emotional in that match against SuperSport United because it was just two days after his death, but the players and management of the club have been very supportive to keep me going.

“The players had promised me that they are going to win the match for me, and they did exactly that and therefore we were all laughing after every goal we scored.

“I will be with the team until this Friday when we play Pirates, but I will miss the other two games when I will be home for the burial,” he said.

Football Veterans Association of Lesotho President, Lebeko “Tycoon” Notsi, described the late Seema as a very intelligent defender, who was a one-man team throughout his career playing for only LDF in Lesotho’s topflight football.

“He was one of the top defenders for LDF in the 1960s and 1970s and it is no wonder that he would get a call up to play for the national side of those days, where I remember he used to partner the late “Blue” Moshoeshoe in the heart of defence,” Notsi said.

“It’s a sad loss to us as the veterans and we knew about his illness from the time we formed the association and his inability to join us for some of our activities. We extend our deepest condolences to his family, the LDF, LEFA and the football fraternity at large.”

In a statement this week, LEFA said it was saddened by the death of Seema and that of former Bahlabani and Qoaling Highlanders player-Rethabile Mapetla.

“Mapetla was part of the Bahlabani provisional squad for the 2021 AUSC games on homes soil but did not make the final cut for the tournament,” LEFA said in a statement.
“Our hearts and prayers are with the two families at this difficult period. Our football is poorer without them. May their souls rest in peace.”

Tlalane Phahla