Vusumuzi Dube
The 2023 COSAFA Women’s Championship is to be staged in Gauteng from October 4-15 as holders Zambia gear up to defend their maiden regional title won at last year’s tournament and Zimbabwe make a welcome return to the international fold.
The draw for the tournament will be staged in Boksburg, Gauteng on Thursday, 14 September at 11h00. You will be able to follow the draw LIVE via our Facebook and YouTube channels.
Along with hosts South Africa, who are record seven-time winners of the regional championship, Zambia head a strong field that also includes Namibia, Botswana, Malawi, Angola, Lesotho, Eswatini, Comoros, Mozambique, Madagascar and Zimbabwe, who return following the lifting of their suspension.
The teams will again be split into three groups each containing four sides, with the top nation in each pool advancing to the semifinals. The best runner-up across the pools will also move forward to the knockout rounds.
It will be another exciting installment of the best regional women’s competition on the continent, with both Zambia and African champions South Africa having excelled at the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.
The tournament will be excellent preparation for the second round of qualifiers for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, with several COSAFA teams still involved in those. Zambia take on Mali, Namibia face Morocco, Botswana clash with Tanzania and South Africa meet DR Congo in the next round of qualifiers that are set for late October.
South Africa have won seven of the previous 10 COSAFA Women’s Championships played, with Zimbabwe (2011), Tanzania (2021) and Zambia (2022) the other teams to lift the trophy. – cosafa.com
Online Reporter