Pretoria - The hosts of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) African Women Championship (AWC) 2010, Banyana Banyana, will face Tanzania in the tournament's opening match on 31 October at Daveyton's Sinaba Stadium.
Banyana's crucial opening encounter will kick-off at 13:00, while defending champions Equatorial Guinea, will kick-off the defence of their AWC title with a group B clash against Cameroon at Sinaba stadium on November 2 at 11:00.
Group A of the seventh edition of the AWC comprises the host Banyana, Nigeria, Tanzania and Mali, while group B comprises Equatorial Guinea, Cameroon, Ghana and Algeria.
The tournament will be hosted by the Ekurhuleni Municipality, and take place at Daveyton's Sinaba Stadium and Tembisa's Makhulong Stadium from 31 October to 14 November.
The opening match, most of the group stage matches, semi-finals and final will take place at the Sinaba stadium, while two of the tournament's final group matches will be played at the Makhulong stadium in Tembisa on November 7 and 8 respectively.
The AWC semi-final matches will both be played at the Sinaba stadium on Thursday, November 11, and the winners of the two semi-finals will not only reach the tournament final, but also qualify for the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup in Germany.
The tournament's final match will be played at Sinaba Stadium at 14:00 on Sunday, 14 November 2010.
AWC organising Committee Chairperson, Nomsa Mahlangu, said the tournament promised to be a very competitive continental event.
"One of the stadia being used is brand new and the other has been extensively renovated, so we're looking forward to utilising them for top-class international women's football and for crowds to join us in numbers. Organisationally, we're all set and we're eagerly anticipating the arrival of the teams in less than a month's time," she said.
Ekurhuleni Metro spokesperson Zweli Dlamini has confirmed the city's state of readiness and is eagerly awaiting the start of the tournament.
"Now that we know which teams will be playing each other and at what time, a public mobilisation campaign will get underway to popularise the matches and to ensure that locals don't miss this once-off opportunity to see their favourite teams at their doorstep.
"The fact that most games take place late in the afternoon is a plus as this will accommodate the majority of people, especially scholars who will not be disrupted at schools at this critical time of the year," he said.
