Malawi were the defending champions, having claimed their first title in the previous edition.[3] However, their attempt to defend the title fell short in the semi-finals when they were eliminated by Zambia.[4]
Format
The competition format was unveiled at the official draw ceremony held in October 2024. The tournament will begin with a group stage featuring four groups (two groups of four teams and two groups of three teams). The top team from each group will progress to the semifinals. The winners of the semifinals will advance to the final, while, for the first time since 2020, no third-place match will be held.[5]
Teams
Participation
A record 14 COSAFA Member Associations have entered this year's edition, marking the first time all members are participating. Of the 14 teams competing, 12 featured in last year's 2023 edition. Mauritius will return to the tournament after missing the previous edition, while Seychelles will make their debut in the competition.[6]
Note: All appearance statistics exclude the 2008 edition.
The final group stage draw took place at COSAFA House in Johannesburg, South Africa, on 8 October 2024 at 12:00 SAST (UTC+2).[12][13]
For this edition, the top three teams from the previous tournament, along with the host nation, were automatically placed into the following positions. South Africa, the host nation, to position A1; Malawi, the 2023 champions, were assigned to position B1; Zambia, the 2023 runners-up, to position C1; and Mozambique, the 2023 third-place team, to position D1. The remaining teams were seeded into three pots for the draw: Pot 1 included Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namibia, and Angola; Pot 2 featured Eswatini, Madagascar, Comoros, and Lesotho; and Pot 3 contained Seychelles and Mauritius, who did not compete in the previous edition.[5]
Gqeberha has been selected as the host city for this year's tournament, with two venues located within the city itself and one in the nearby iBhayitownship, including the renowned Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium.
South Africa and Zambia will meet in the final for the third time in the competition's history, following previous encounters in 2019 and 2022, both of which ended 1–0 (one win for South Africa and one for Zambia).[15] the Host Banyana Banyana enters as the record champion with seven titles, while the Copper Queens holds one.[16] The two teams have met six times in the competition's history, with South Africa winning three matches and Zambia one, while the other two encounters ended in draws, each team winning the shootout once.[17][18]
There have been 75 goals scored in 20 matches, for an average of 3.75 goals per match (as of 31 October 2024). Players highlighted in bold are still active in the competition.
A player was automatically suspended for the next match for the following offences:
Receiving a red card (red card suspensions may be extended for serious offences)
Receiving two yellow cards in two matches; yellow cards expire after the completion of the group stage (yellow card suspensions are not carried forward to any other future international matches)
The following suspensions were served during the tournament:
.jpg)
.svg){kind=small}