Tuks and Copperbelt gain promotion to Super League

University of Pretoria Ladies (Tuks) and Copperbelt Ladies reached the final of the Sasol League National Championships and thereby qualified for the Hollywoodbets Super League.

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Copperbelt beat North West University Tawana Ladies 2-1 thanks to goals by 17-year old midfielder Nomphelo Yakuphi, who took her scoring tally to five goals in three games and got her second Diski-Queen-of-the-Match in a row at the Peter Mokaba Stadium on Friday.

The Limpopo based outfit have been impressive since the start of the championship and their coach Karabo Selapi was just overwhelmed with emotions, saying no one believed in them.

“I am so happy, I don’t want to say because no one believed in us, but we managed to make it. They didn’t give us a chance before the start of the tournament, but we made sure that we are going to make it no matter what,” said the overjoyed Selapi.

“It was all because of the hard work of the players and I am very proud of them, we deserve this and they have shown great fighting spirit from the start. We had many challenges before coming to play the championship, but we didn’t let that get into our heads because we knew what we wanted to achieve.”

In the other semi-final, Tuks Ladies from Gauteng beat KwaZulu-Natal’s Lindelani Ladies on penalties to reach the final.

The game had to be decided on penalties after it ended 1-1 during regulation time.

Lindelani opened the scoring through Anele Miya, but the goal was later cancelled out by Gugu Dhlamini, who made it 1-1.

Tuks emerged 4-2 winners in the penalty shootout to reach the final and promotion to the Hollywoodbets Super League.

Tuks will now meet the home side Copperbelt Ladies on Sunday for the R200 000 cash prize money and the bragging rights of being the national champions.