The 2024 COSAFA U-20 Women's Championship was the second edition of the COSAFA U-20 Women's Championship, the international women's youth football championship contested by the under-20 women's national teams of the member associations of COSAFA. The tournament was hosted in Johannesburg, South Africa from 19 to 24 November 2024.[1]
East African guest nation Tanzania were the inaugural Champions when they lifted a maiden title in 2019 with a 2–1 victory over Zambia in the final.[2][3] As the Twiga Stars did not return for this edition the tournament saw a COSAFA member claim the title for the first time, with Zambia clinching the championship undefeated and without conceding a goal, while host South Africa finished second.[4][5]
Format
Unlike the previous edition, which featured a group stage followed by semifinals and a final, This year's competition followed a round-robin format due to the lower number of participants. Each of the five teams faced the others once, earning three points for a win, one for a draw, and zero for a loss. The team with the most points was crowned the 2024 champions.[6]
Participation
Participating teams
Initially, only 4 out of 14 COSAFA members entered the second edition. However, Zambia was added to the lineup on 11 November 2024, bringing the total to 5 teams.[7]Lesotho made their debut in the competition after missing the inaugural edition in 2019.[8]
Each of the five participating national teams was required to register a squad of up to 20 players. with Players born between 1 January 2004 and 31 December 2008 were eligible to compete in the tournament.
Venue
All the matches will be held on the University of Johannesburg's Soweto campus in Johannesburg.
