COSAFA Under-17 continental qualifier set for December
The COSAFA Under-17 Men’s Championship makes a return to the calendar this year when it is staged in Maputo, Mozambique from December 4-13, with the added significance of it being a continental qualifier for the TotalEnergies CAF Under-17 Africa Cup of Nations 2025.
The continental finals are due to be staged in Ivory Coast next year, with the top two teams from the COSAFA championship to qualify for that competition.
The group stage draw for the regional finals has already been concluded and there will be a Lusophone derby after hosts Mozambique were drawn with Angola in Group A, while they also face Malawi and Lesotho.
Group B contains holders Zambia, Namibia, Zimbabwe and Eswatini, while Group C has South Africa, Botswana, Comoros and Mauritius.
Once again, only the top team in each pool advances to the semifinals along with the best-placed runner-up, providing little margin for error.
The competition will run concurrently with the COSAFA Under-17 Women’s Championship that will also be staged in Maputo.
Both tournaments will use the superb facilities of the Black Bulls club in Matola, which was the stage for the recently completed TotalEnergies CAF Under-20 Africa Cup of Nations 2025 | COSAFA Qualifier.
Nine COSAFA nations have qualified for the continental Under-17 finals in the past, with South Africa providing the best finish when they ended runners-up in 2015.
Angola finished third in 2019 and Malawi fourth in 2009, but it has been a tough age-group for the region in continental battles.
The COSAFA Under-17 Championship has been played under several guises in the past, including as part of the AUSC Region 5 Games, though the tournament was organised by COSAFA.
South Africa (1994, 2002, 2020) and defending champions Zambia (2017, 2019, 2022) lead the way with three wins each, while Angola (2018, 2021), Malawi (2001), Zimbabwe (2007) and Namibia (2016) have one win each.
South Africa have been runners-up on five occasions too, meaning they have been in the final of eight of the 11 previous tournaments played, a record.
Three finals have been decided by penalties, when Zimbabwe beat South Africa in 2007, when Namibia defeated the same opposition in 2016 and when South Africa edged Zambia in 2020.
Many players who have gone on to be senior national team players have come through the tournament in the past,
Delron Buckley (South Africa), Robert Ng’ambi (Malawi) and Patson Daka (Zambia) are just a few who would go on to make a major name for themselves.