Watching She Corporate this season, you feel a sense of stability and ambition in the team.
Not only can you predict the team they will present for a match, but you can count on the players to put up a show and perform to the sum of their parts.
That is a far cry from last season, where one member from their management joked they had “only a starting five.”
Burundian coach Belyse Ininahazwe and her assistant Saddam Pande have rejuvenated some players and set the standards for others to follow at their new home at Fufa Technical Centre, Njeru. The results? A second place position after nine games, in the ongoing 2025/26 Finance Trust Bank Fufa Women Super League (FTBFWSL), with 20 points – that is just five off the top.
They have conceded just six goals and scored 20 – seven from current league top scorer Jesca Namanda.
By this point last season, they had 10 points after winning two games, drawing four, and losing three. They had scored six goals and conceded as many. They got just five more wins and three draws to close the 22-game season with 28 points.
Players’ push
“The players looked at last season’s performance and decided they needed to do better,” Pande said.
But you can argue, they looked at the last three seasons. She Corporate won the 2022 league and even finished runners-up in the Caf Women’s Champions League qualifiers for the Cecafa region in Dar-es,-Salaam. However, they set up an abysmal title defence, in the 2022/23 season, that ended with relegation to the second tier Elite League (FTBFWEL) for the 2023/24 season.
She Corporate lost crucial players to the paid ranks after Dar. Notably talisman Phiona Nabbumba went to Denmark and was followed there by Daphine Nyayenga. Some suffered long-term injuries.
They fell to the second tier and immediately rose up again as champions of the 2023/24 FWEL and also 2024 Fufa Women Cup winners.
“You can tell the players have the talent and understand the game. But maybe, they needed a new voice and ideas to lift themselves.
“We promise, we shall be competitive. It is not easy for the team to go from last season’s struggles to competing for the trophy and I cannot confirm if we are in the title race or not,” Pande said. Ininahazwe said, during a ceremony to award her as coach of the month in October, that they want to win every game.
Solid side
As a player, Ininahazwe was a defender and those close to her say she is obsessed with that aspect of the game. Her team is also direct but relishes physical battles too.
“She is never happy when we concede a goal and if it is down to an error from the defence, she makes her feeling known,” a member in the team’s management, said.
Goalkeeper Molly Nabitaka Naava has kept five clean sheets so far. The centre back pairing of Lukia Namubiru and Alima Nambafu – signed from Kampala Queens and Asubo looks more steady than it gets credit for and it is easy to forget that it has kept the experienced Crested Cranes’ Margaret Namirimu, who has also struggled with injuries, on the bench.
The duo gets support from right back Rebecca Nandhego since leftback Cissy Nakate is allowed to venture forward a bit more.
iola Namuddu and Gillian Akadinda provide cover in midfield and it helps that they both established themselves as defenders at Kawempe Muslim and Olila respectively.
“I knew Nambafu long before I came here. I watched her a lot as a student at Amus College and in Mbale. She is an emerging force.
“Of course, Akadinda played fullback for me (at Olila) but she was still young. Sometimes, you allow a player to grow through a certain position before letting them discover a new position and I believe she is capable of playing in midfield,” Pande shared.
Leticia Nakyeyune is probably the softest on the eye in the squad and can fill in both in midfield and on the right flank. Winger Sandra Kisakye’s move from Uganda Christian University continues a long-term relationship between the clubs and she looks like she has found a home that suits her ambitions.
Numbers’ game
But the attack is led by the industrious Namanda, who is not only a scorer of many goals (she got 11 last season and now has seven) but good ones too as witnessed by her half volley on the turn to sink KQ in a 3-2 win last weekend. The motivated Rebecca Nakato plays slightly off Namanda and has scored four goals so far.
“We have objectives to achieve and the only way we can get them is to demand the players to perform.
“Jesca is a huge talent and wants to improve all the time. All she can ask of us is to give her playing time and when we do so, we want good performances. She is a striker and they are judged by their numbers, so, she must keep hungry and motivated to build her numbers.
“Rebecca, on the other hand, is enjoying the responsibility. Maybe in Kawempe, there were many players ahead of her and she was younger, but we believe she can get even better,” Pande said.
Penninah Akuuku, Kevin Nakacwa, Barbra Adweru, Moureen Nankinga, Ronah Regina Nantege, and goalkeeper Gift Nasasira are some of the players that provide depth for She Corporate.
She Corporate – Stats thus far
Goals scored – 17 in 9 matches
Scorers
Jesca Namanda – 9 goals
Rebecca Nakato – 4
Sandra Kisakye – 2
Leticia Nakyeyune – 1
Cissy Nakate – 1
Results – 20 points earned
Kampala Queens 2-3 She Corporate
She Corporate 2-0 Rines SS
Makerere University 0-0 She Corporate
She Corporate 0-2 Kawempe Muslim
Lady Doves 1-2 She Corporate
She Corporate 2-0 Amus College
She Corporate 2-0 Asubo
She Maroons 0-0 She Corporate
She Corporate 4-1 Uganda Martyrs