Alfred Nzo women carry province's hopes

MTHATHA side Coastal United will carry the Eastern Cape's hopes when the Sasol League National Champions finals get underway at the Wolfson Stadium on Monday.

Nine provincial winners will contest the finals. Coastal United made it through after Safa-Nelson Mandela champions Manchester Babes, from Uitenhage, lost in the provincial playoffs.

Safa-NMB president Monde Mhletywa said they were delighted to be the hosts this year as it would add a positive side to their soccer profile.

Even though he was disappointed a metro team would not be competing, he called on soccer fans in the region to support the finals.

"We are hosting [the finals] on behalf of the province and as much as I would have loved for it to be a metro team representing our province, we need to rally behind Coastal United from Alfred Nzo," he said.

"We need to make the best of this tournament – the community of NMB must support these matches to ensure that we receive more national events.

"One of our objectives this year was to increase the profile of women's football, hence it makes sense for us to put in all what we have to make a success of the event," he said.

The fixtures are:

Monday, 10am: Kanatla Ladies v Bloemfontein Celtic, 12.30pm: Coal City Wizards v Durban Ladies, 3.30pm: Coastal United Ladies v Cape Town Roses.

Tuesday, 10am: Durban Ladies v Palace Super Falcons, 2.30pm: Cape Town Roses v Royals Wizards, 3pm: Bloemfontein Celtics v Titans.

Wednesday, 10am: Royals Wizards v Coastal United Ladies, 12.30pm: Titans v Kanatla Ladies, 3pm: Palace Super Falcons v Coal City Wizards. - Mogan Segadavan