2024 COSAFA U-20 Cup

2024 COSAFA Under-20 Cup
Tournament details
Host countryMozambique
CityMatola
Dates26 September–5 October
Teams12 (from 1 sub-confederation)
Venue(s)Associação Black Bulls (in 1 host city)
Final positions
Champions South Africa
(9th title)
Runners-up Zambia
Tournament statistics
Matches played18
Goals scored55 (3.06 per match)
Top scorer(s)South Africa Lee Jody Ahshene
(4 goals)
Best player(s)South Africa Shandre Campbell
Best goalkeeperSouth Africa Fletcher Smythe-Lowe
Fair play award Zambia
← 2022
2026 →

The 2024 COSAFA U-20 Cup was the 29th edition of the COSAFA U-20 Challenge Cup, an international youth football tournament open to national associations of the COSAFA region. It took place between 26 September and 5 October 2024 in Mozambique. This competition served as the COSAFA qualifiers for the 2025 U-20 Africa Cup of Nations.

South Africa defeated defending champions Zambia 2-0 in the final. Both finalists qualified for the 2025 U-20 Africa Cup of Nations.[1][2] South Africa scored 16 goals in the five matches played, with zero goals conceded against them.

Participating teams

The following twelve teams contested the tournament.

Team Appearances Previous best performance
 Angola 29th Runner-up
(2000, 2001, 2002, 2011)
 Botswana 22nd 3rd Place
(2009, 2011)
 Comoros 5th Group stage
(2013, 2016, 2019, 2020)
 Eswatini 29th Champion
(2020)
 Lesotho 29th Runner-up
(1990, 2005, 2017)
 Malawi 20th 4th Place (1986, 2000, 2006, 2011)
 Mozambique 29th Champion
(2020)
 Namibia 29th Champion
(2020)
 South Africa 29th Champion
(2000, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2013, 2017, 2018)
 Zambia 29th Champion
(1983, 1986, 1993, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2003, 2010, 2011, 2016, 2019, 2022)

Venues

Match officials

Draw

The draw was held on 5 September 2024 at 11:00 CET (UTC+2) at Maputo.The 12 teams were drawn into three groups of four teams, with hosts Mozambique seeded in Group A (position A1), the defending champions Zambia seeded in Group B (position B1) and South Africa seeded in Group C (position C1). The remaining 9 teams were allocated to two pots based on the results of the previous tournament edition and were drawn to the remaining positions.[3]

Seeded Pot 1 Pot 2

Group stage

All times are local, CAT (UTC+2).

The group stage were played in 3 groups as a round-robin, where the winners and the best runner-up advanced to the semi-finals. Because of Madagascar's withdrawal, points gained against the team finishing last in Groups A and C were not included in the calculation of the best runner-up.

Group A

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Zimbabwe 3 2 1 0 5 1 +4 7 Semi-finals
2  Botswana 3 1 2 0 3 2 +1 5
3  Eswatini 3 1 1 1 5 7 −2 4
4  Mozambique (H) 3 0 0 3 5 8 −3 0
Source: COSAFA
(H) Hosts
Zimbabwe 1–1 Botswana
  • Moyo 30'
 Report
Mozambique 4–5 Eswatini
 Report
Eswatini 0–3 Zimbabwe
Report
Mozambique 1–2 Botswana
 Report
Eswatini 0–0 Botswana
Report
Mozambique 0–1 Zimbabwe
Report

Group B

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Angola 2 2 0 0 4 1 +3 6 Semi-finals
2  Zambia 2 1 0 1 3 4 −1 3
3  Namibia 2 0 0 2 1 3 −2 0
Source: COSAFA

 Madagascar was also drawn into this group but withdrew before playing.[4]

Zambia 1–3 Angola
 Report
Angola 1–0 Namibia
 Report
Zambia 2–1 Namibia
 Report

Group C

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  South Africa 3 3 0 0 13 0 +13 9 Semi-finals
2  Comoros 3 1 0 2 2 4 −2 3
3  Malawi 3 1 0 2 4 9 −5 3
4  Lesotho 3 1 0 2 3 9 −6 3
Source: COSAFA
Comoros 1–0 Lesotho
 Report
South Africa 5–0 Malawi
 Report
Malawi 2–1 Comoros
 Report
South Africa 6–0 Lesotho
 Report
Malawi 2–3 Lesotho
 Report
Comoros 0–2 South Africa
Report

Ranking of second-placed teams

Pos Grp Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 B  Zambia 2 1 0 1 3 4 −1 3 Semi-finals
2 A  Botswana 2 0 2 0 1 1 0 2
3 C  Comoros 2 0 0 2 1 4 −3 0
Source: COSAFA
Rules for classification: Group tiebreakers

Knockout stage

Bracket

 
Semi-finalsFinal
 
      
 
3 October - Matola
 
 
 Angola0
 
5 October - Matola
 
 South Africa1
 
 South Africa2
 
3 October - Matola
 
 Zambia0
 
 Zimbabwe 2 (5)
 
 
 Zambia (p)2 (6)
 

Semi-finals

Angola 0–1 South Africa
Zimbabwe 2–2 Zambia
Penalties
5–6

Final

South Africa 2–0 Zambia

Goalscorers

There were 55 goals scored in 18 matches, for an average of 3.06 goals per match.

4 goals

3 goals

2 goals

1 goal

1 own goal

See also

References

  1. ^ "Shandre Campbell shines as Afcon-bound South Africa are crowned Cosafa Under-20 champions | Goal.com South Africa". www.goal.com. 2024-10-05. Retrieved 2024-10-05.
  2. ^ "EN, FR, PR: South Africa claim ninth COSAFA Under-20 crown". 2024-10-05. Retrieved 2024-10-05.
  3. ^ "Draws concluded in Maputo for Under-20 and Under-17 competitions". Council of Southern Africa Football Associations. 5 September 2024. Retrieved 7 September 2024.
  4. ^ "Race for African place gets under way in COSAFA U20 Qualifier". Council of Southern Africa Football Associations. 25 September 2024. Retrieved 26 September 2024.