Police Ladies head coach Yusif Basigi has sounded a battle cry as his side gear up for the CAF Women’s Champions League WAFU Zone B qualifiers in Yamoussoukro, Côte d’Ivoire, from August 23 to September 4.

The Ghanaian champions, drawn in a tricky Group B with Nigerian heavyweights Bayelsa Queens, Togo’s Association Sportive de la Kozah and Benin’s Sam Nelly, must win the group to advance to the final, the only route to one of two prized tickets for the Champions League proper later this year.

With less than a week to the start of the sub-regional campaign, Police Ladies have turned to Baisgi, one of Ghana’s most decorated coaches in women’s football, to plot their route to continental glory.

Experienced hand

If there’s anyone who knows how to navigate such high-stakes tournaments, it is Basigi. Fresh from a year in charge of Tanzanian giants Simba Ladies, the former Hasaacas Ladies supremo has been thrust into the hot seat after CAF regulations ruled substantive coach Chief Inspector Abu Kassim Tabasu ineligible to lead the team.

Tabasu, however, will serve as his assistant for the campaign. Far from daunted by the challenge, the vastly experienced tactician is relishing the fight.

“Bayelsa are a big team, but I think it’s a good draw. Our group is the toughest, so we have to raise our game. We won’t leave anything to chance — the target is qualification,” Coach Basigi told Daily Graphic at the Ghanaman Centre of Excellence in Prampram. 

Lucrative prizes

With lucrative rewards on the line — $150,000 guaranteed for each of the eight teams in the Champions League proper and a staggering $600,000 for the eventual winners — Police Ladies know there is plenty at stake.

Runners-up will take home $400,000, with beaten semi-finalists banking $350,000. Even group-stage finishers won’t walk away empty-handed, with $200,000 and $150,000 up for grabs.

Still, Basigi insists his side are driven more by ambition than money.

“We are not underestimating or overestimating anyone because every club earned their place,” he said. “But our focus is to take each match as it comes and fight for the ultimate. We are going to Côte d’Ivoire to qualify; that’s the mindset. We are not underestimating or overestimating any opponent because they all deserve to be here,” he said.

“But our focus is to take each match as it comes and fight for the ultimate. We are going to Côte d’Ivoire to qualify; that’s the mindset.”

In Group A, tournament hosts ASEC Mimosas face Niger’s AS Garde Nationale and Burkina Faso’s USFA in what promises to be another competitive pool.