JWANENG GALAXY QUALIFIES FOR 2021 CAF GROUP STAGES
BY: Rapalai Calystus
The Galaxy Stars, as well known took less than a decade to make a mark across Africa.
Jwaneng Galaxy will be featuring in the 2021 season of Confederation of African Football (CAF) Champions League group stages, and being the second team from Botswana to qualify for group stages.
The team has already featured in four CAF tournaments, two times in CAF Confederation Cup, and two times in CAF Champions League in their history as the club. The team has now finally made it to the group stages of the tournament after a stunning performance, turning impossible’s into possibles by defeating Tanzanian giants Simba SC at their own home ground.
The Botswana Football League(BFL) giants Jwaneng Galaxy started this season’s CAF Champions League campaign against Diplomat FC of Central Africa which they defeated 2-1 in aggregate, won 2-0 at National Stadium, and lost 1-0 away. The Galaxy Stars was then given Simba SC which many didn’t see Galaxy proceeding to the next stage of the tournament. Galaxy lost their home game against Simba SC 2-0 at the National Stadium, but didn’t lose any hope and fought like true soldiers on the second leg away from home which they won 3-1.
JWANENG GALAXY MADE A MARK
Jwaneng Galaxy started their CAF campaigns back in 2018 in the Confederation Cup where they were underdogs in the tournament and were knocked out in the first stage of the tournament, they qualified for CAF after winning the 2016-17 Mascom Top 8.
Galaxy came back in CAF games again last year after finishing on first position when Botswana Premier League for the season 2019-20 was nullified due to the outbreak of Covid-19, with half of the games left for each team.
During the 2020-21 CAF Champions league, Galaxy was drawn against Zilimadjou of Comoros which they defeated with an aggregate of 5-1 to face Mamelodi Sundowns of South Africa. They lost by an aggregate of 5-1, 2-0 when they were home and 3-1 away to Sundowns, they were then drawn against another South African based club, Orlando Pirates in the Confederation Cup, which they lost by an aggregate of 4-0, after losing 3-0 home and 1-0 away.
The mining town outfit Jwaneng Galaxy was then chosen once again to represent Botswana at this seasons Confederation of African Football Champions league as the Champions of the season 2019-20.
The club represented the nation under difficult conditions where there was no football in the country for more than a year due to the effect of covid-19 pandemic.
Jwaneng based side Galaxy played all this games after some months without competitive football in Botswana, but still they went out there and fought for the nation with everything they had. They faced teams which their leagues have been active for some months, but still went head to head with them.
“We participated in CAF competitions under difficult situations brought by Covid-19. We were unable to execute all preparation plans due to protocols that were in place that restricted movement”, team spokesperson Tankiso Morake.
The Galaxy stars are a team which was found in 2015 after two Jwaneng teams joined together, Jwaneng Comets and the Debswana youngsters. Galaxy, they were then promoted to Botswana Premier League after just one season as Jwaneng Galaxy for the first time in 2015, winning the Debswana first division South with a game in hand.
The team now already have two Mascom Top 8 silverwares, and Botswana Premier league gold medal, and 2 silvers, and a mark across Africa.
