The Bloemfontein-based young women’s football club Inter Madrid is eyeing promotion to the country’s second-tier Sasol Women’s League. The team will compete on a round-robin basis against Clever Girls FC from Thabo Mofutsanyana and UGU FC from Lejweleputswa.
The winner and runner-up are automatically promoted to the Free State stream. Set for 29 January in Welkom, the play-offs will be without representation from the Fezile Dabi and Xhariep region.
The three finalists qualified by winning in their respective regions, under the auspices of Safa.
Madrid beat Napoli FC from Botshabelo to earn the Mangaung Metro regional title in the final played in December.
Madrid finished the 2021 season unbeaten and hopes to continue the onslaught at the provincial final. It is the club’s first attempt to gain promotion to the second highest league, which involves 16 teams and is played in all nine provinces.
The team finishing in third position will stand a chance to be promoted to the second-tier rank, along with the club that finishes in fourth position at the provincial play-offs.
This will only be possible if Ixias FC from Welkom gets promoted to the Safa National Women’s League – the country’s first-ever professional women’s league.
The Ixias side is among the nine provincial winners that qualified to compete nationally for promotion to the professional league. The team secured a spot in the national final after beating Kovsies FC at the provincial final played in October last year.
Safa will stage the national promotion play-offs, featuring the nine provincial winners, in Durban during March.
Clubs billed to compete for fourth position at the Free State play-offs are Napoli from Botshabelo, Mangaung Ajax from Thabo Mofutsanyana and Kutloanong Arsenal FC, representing the Lejweleputswa region. They will also compete on a round-robin basis to determine their position.
