The South Sudan Football Association (SSFA) draw for the third edition of the South Sudan Women’s National Cup Championship for the 2023/24 season was held on Tuesday with 10 clubs selected to participate.

The clubs were divided into two groups, four in the first and six in the second.

The first group will play matches in Aweil and includes Tiger United of Aweil, Holy Family FC of Rumbek, Al-Hilal FC of Wau, and Mayardit Wounded Heroes of Kuajok.

The second group whose matches will be held in Juba includes Munuki Juba, Yei Joint Stars, Nile Eagle Bor, Al Wahda Yambio, Young Stars Torit, and Bentiu City Bentiu.

The tournament will see two matches played per day; in the morning and the evening in Juba and Aweil.

Victor Lawrence Lual, the secretary of the South Sudan Football Association, revealed there are many challenges facing the development of women’s football in South Sudan because clubs focus on the men’s team more than the women’s team.

“There are large differences between the men's and women's teams and you can even see the differences in the jerseys they wear. The uniform of women's teams can make everyone think that they are not from the same club as their male counterparts despite the two teams having the same president and management,” he stated. “Club administrations should pay equal attention to all their teams and not differentiate between them.”

Lual added: “The African Confederation is strict on the issue of women's teams because it does not allow teams that do not have women's teams to participate in its tournaments.”

On his part, Oyual Lam, the chairman of the SSFA’s Competitions Committee, described the tournament as one of the most important at the federation level.

“The champion of the third edition of the tournament will represent South Sudan in the CECAFA and African Confederation Championships, which represents an opportunity for all teams representing their local federations to present their true level to obtain the opportunity to represent the country in foreign tournaments,” he explained.

Meanwhile, Nikong Gai, the chairperson of the Women’s Football Committee at the SSFA, expressed happiness at the increased number of clubs participating in the tournament this year compared to last year.

“This gives us the impression that there is interest and love for women’s football in South Sudan and we desire to see that the number of clubs increases to 15 next season,” she said.

The tournament will kick off next Monday with Bentiu City facing Yei Joint Stars in the morning, and Young Stars and Al-Wahda teams in the afternoon at Buluk playground. The return matches of the second group will be held on Wednesday.

In the first group, the Holy Family and Tiger United teams will play in the morning at Al-Hurriya Stadium, while the Al-Hilal and Mayardit Wounded Heroes teams will meet in the afternoon, while the return matches will be held on Wednesday.

The team that wins the South Sudan Women's National Cup will participate in the East and Central Africa Championship (CECAFA) and the Confederation of African Football Cup next season.