Kampala Queens FC capped the final day of the league season with a 1-1 draw against Lady Doves FC before they were crowned new champions of the FUFA Women Super League at IUIU, Kabojja.
The ‘Queens of Soccer’ as known by their faithful, almost won the title unbeaten. They amassed an impressive 47 points from 18 games with 15 wins, 2 draws and one loss came at the hands of record League champions Kawempe Muslim Ladies three days ago.
Kampala Queens FC celebrated euphorically and rightly so after missing out on the championship last season by just a goal difference having conceded one more compared to eventual Champions, She Corporate who sadly will not be playing in the top flight next season.
Now after winning the championship with a 14-point difference over runners-up Kawempe Muslim (33 points), the Mutundwe-based side will have every reason to erase last year’s painful miss after recording their best season this year in the club’s history and in style.
The team fans went wild in a wave of enthusiastic cheering, blowing plastic trumpets ‘vuvuzelas’, singing, dancing and chanting the names of their respective favourite players.
Final match day tension and drama
Heading into the game, Kampala Queens FC had already secured their maiden league title in spectacular fashion with 4 games to play.
However, the Lady Doves FC were a different opponent with reserved ideas on a wet day at the Kabojja grounds.
Lady Doves needed a win to be safe and remain in the top flight but results from the other four matches on the day had a bearing as well on their life span in the FUFA Women Super League.
At IUIU Kabojja where the champions’ crowning ceremony took place, Lady Doves wanted to spoil the party for their own survival. The Masindi side got into the lead in the 33rd minute through Joweria Nagadya.
This result gave Lady Doves the boasting rights on the day as they were assured of survival.
However, their efforts were fizzled as they conceded in the 3rd minute of additional time of the second half with almost the last kick of the game when Resty Nanziri capitalized on futile clearance to beat goalkeeper Rose Bamaniriza from close range.
The game ended 1-1 which meant the 2020/21 champions had been relegated to the FUFA Women Elite league only to be saved by a late Kawempe Muslim Ladies 2-2 draw with She Corporates at MUBS, Nakawa Ground.
Going into the last round of games half of the teams were still not sure of safety and needed to win their respective games and additionally hope results from other games were favourable.
Asubo Gafford Ladies needed to beat Rines SS WFC to stand a chance. Their efforts were rewarded as they achieved an emphatically 4-3 victory with Zaitun Namaganda netting a hattrick and Evelyn Nassuna scoring for the home side while Jesca Namanda got another treble of the day for the visitors.
In Lubaga, the visitors Olila HS WFC who started the final match at the bottom with 17 points needed more than a miracle to save their neck because they were in a far more disadvantaged position than any of the other relegation candidates. Olila lost the game 3-0 at the hands of their hosts Uganda Martyrs High School Lubaga WFC to stay bottom and subsequently say goodbye to the FUFA Women Super League. Latifah Nakasi and Brenda Munyana with a brace scored for the home side.
In Makerere where the ‘University Derby’ highlighted another classic on the final day of the season, the Makerere University side squandered their chance to beat the drop ahead of time when they conceded a late equalizer against Asubo Gafford Ladies on match day 17 needed to beat another University side UCU Lady Cardinals to stand any chance. A Husna Mpanja first-half strike from a penalty spot handed a Fred Ndawula-coached side a much-needed 1-0 win over UCU to survive as they finished 5th on 22 points (same with UCU in 4th).
Defending Champions relegated
The defending champions She Corporate FC provided the shocker of the day when they got relegated on the final day given their inferior goal difference of negative one against Lady Doves’ positive three after tying on points with 20 points apiece.
She Corporate like other relegation contenders needed to beat Kawempe Muslim Ladies a side that had the best run of form in the second round and ended up producing the league’s top scorer and Most Valuable Player (MVP) midfielder Shakira Nyinagahirwa.
The hosts seemed to have understood the assignment going into the halftime break with a comfortable 2-0 lead courtesy of Ithung Zian and Winnie Nabbaale’s goals meaning they were safe up to that time.
However, the ‘Valley Warriors’ rallied from behind in the second half to score two goals through Nabukenya Agnes and Nalukoda Susan to condemn the Sharks after the game ended two all.
Individual, Team Awards as Shaika Nyinagahirwa shines brightest
The Kawempe Muslim Ladies FC midfielder turned striker has had a season to remember having scooped both the MVP and top scorer awards of the FUFA Women’s Super League. Her brilliant form saw her score 12 goals and end with seven (7) assists to lift the league record champions to second place shrugging off a challenge from fierce rivals Uganda Martyrs High School Lubaga and UCU Lady Cardinals.
Kampala Queens’ custodian Daisy Nakaziro emerged as the best goalkeeper after keeping 9 clean sheets from 12 games and conceding just thrice.
Lady Doves walked away with the Fair Play award.
Source: FUFA