Cosafa Women’s Under 17 championship fixtures out

THE fixtures of the forthcoming COSAFA Women Under 17 Championship that will take place in Lilongwe, Malawi from 1 to 10 December have been released.

The games, that will be staged as part of the Region 5 Games, will get under way with a clash between defending champions Zambia and losing finalists Botswana in a potentially pulsating Group B encounter on 1 December.

That will be followed by a Group A match pitting tournaments’ debutants and hosts Malawi against seasoned campaigners South Africa.

There will be further rounds of matches on 3 and 5 December before the top two teams in each pool contest in the semifinals.

The winner of Group A will take on the victor in Group B, and vice-versa.  There will be a third-place play-off to be played on 10 December at 6.30pm with the final set to be played at 9pm that same evening.

The competition was originally set to be played as a five-team single pool round-robin tournament but the late entry of Comoros meant the six sides were split into two pools.

In this year’s event in Lilongwe, it will not be the first time that COSAFA has assisted with the football competitions at the Region 5 Games having also been part of previous contests, though with a slight twist.

Here is a look back at who were the winners down the years.

2014 AUSC REGION 5 GAMES – BULAWAYO  Boys’ Under-17 competition

The tournament was won by Zambia, who had entered an Under-20 team into the Under-17 competition. As such, they dominated throughout and beat hosts Zimbabwe 3-0 in the final. Zambia had theyoung Patson Daka playing for them.Daka now does duty for English Premiership side Leicester City  Girls’ Under-20 competition  South Africa claimed the gold medal after their 5-1 win over Namibia in their final pool match of the competition. Botswana finished second to take silver and hosts Zimbabwe won the bronze.

2016 AUSC REGION 5 GAMES – LUANDA  Boys’ Under-20 competition

The boys played in the Under-20 category on this occasion and it was Zimbabwe who came out victorious courtesy of their 1-0 win over Angola in the final. It took an extra-time winner from Anelka Chivandire to claim victory. Zambia took bronze as they beat Eswatini 4-2 in the third-place play-off.  Girls’ Under-20 competition  South Africa retained their title following a 5-0 victory over Namibia in the decider. Two current Banyana Banyana stars Karabo Dlamini and Linda Motlhalo were in action with the former grabbing a hattrick and the latter scoring a brace. They have both become huge stars plying their trade overseas.

2018 AUSC REGION 5 GAMES – GABORONE  Boys’ Under-17 competition  It was back to a Boys Under-17 competition three years ago and Tanzania came out on top as they edged Angola in the final on penalties. The match had finished 1-1 in regulation time but the Tanzanians claimed the shoot-out 6-5. Eswatini claimed bronze with a 1-0 win over Zambia in the third-place play-off.  Girls’ Under-20 competition  South Africa were champions once again after edging Botswana 1-0. Lindokuhle Gladile scored the only goal of the game on 75 minutes. Zimbabwe took home bronze aftera 2-0 win over Namibia.

2020 AUSC REGION 5 GAMES – MASERU  Boys’ Under-17 competition

These competitions were staged in December 2021 having been postponed for a year due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Angola were crowned champions when they defeated Zambia 2-1 in a nail biting encounter.Malawi picked up bronze courtesy of their 4-0 thumping ofEswatini. The competition consisted of six teams.  Girls’ Under-17 competition  It was the first girls Under-17 competition Severe travel restrictions meant only three sides took part.Zambia defeated Botswana 4-0 in the final. Namibia were the third team but lost both their pool matches.