2020 COSAFA Under-17 Championship

The 2020 COSAFA Under-17 Championship is the 9th edition of the COSAFA U-17 Championship, a football tournament organized by the Council of Southern Africa Football Associations (COSAFA) involving teams from Southern Africa for players aged 17 and below. The tournament is also the qualifier for the 2021 Africa U-17 Cup of Nations,[2] which in turn is the qualifier for the 2021 FIFA U-17 World Cup and will be played on November 19–29[3] in Nelson Mandela Bay and the two finalists of the tournament will be representing COSAFA in the Africa U-17 Cup of Nations.[2][3] Initially, it was planned to be played in Malawi in July[4][5] but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. After the first four games, (2 in each group), the tournament was re-started as four teams (Comoros, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Eswatini) were disqualified for using over-aged players.[6]

2020 COSAFA Under-17 Championship
Tournament details
Host countrySouth Africa
Dates19–29 November 2020
Teams4
Final positions
Champions South Africa (3rd title)
Runners-up Zambia
Third place Angola
Fourth place Malawi
Tournament statistics
Matches played8
Goals scored32 (4 per match)
Top scorer(s) Joseph Banda[1]
Best player(s) Mduduzi Shabalala[1]
Best goalkeeper Eric Makungu[1]
Fair play award Zambia[1]

Participating teams

Last year's runners-up Mozambique were meant to be the 9th nation to participate,[7] but in the end 8 of the 14 COSAFA teams entered to compete for this year's trophy. After the first round of games four teams were expelled due to cheating, namely:

  •  Comoros
  •  Zimbabwe
  •  Botswana
  •  Eswatini

So the tournament restarted with the following genuine combatants:


Match Officials

Group stage
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Zambia (H) 3 3 0 0 9 3 +6 9 2021 Africa U-17 Cup of Nations
2  South Africa 3 1 1 1 4 4 0 4
3  Angola 3 1 0 2 9 5 +4 3
4  Malawi 3 0 1 2 5 15 −10 1
Source: COSAFA
Rules for classification: Group tiebreakers
(H) Host.
Angola 1–2 Zambia
  • Lopes  90+3'
 Report
  • Majapa  51'
  • Ng’ambi  64' (pen.)
Referee: Tshepo Gobagoba (Botswana)
South Africa 2–2 Malawi
  • Shabalala  46'
  • Mahlangu  87'
 Report
  • Zakeyu  36'
  • Banda  65'
Referee: Thanks Nyahuye (Zimbabwe)
South Africa 2–1 Angola
  • Shabalala  45+2'
  • Francis  61'
 Report
  • Kossi  56'
Referee: Lawrence Zimondi (Zimbabwe)
Zambia 6–2 Malawi
  • Banda  11', 44', 49'
  • Ng’ambi  16'
  • Majapa  47'
  • Khumalo  84'
 Report
  • Mphasi  58', 72'
Referee: Artur Alfinar (Mozambique)
Malawi 1–7 Angola
  • Zakeyu  80'
 Report
  • Domingos  30'
  • Hequele  40', 42', 67' (pen.)
  • Canji  82'
  • Cucao  90+1'
  • Inga  90+4'
Westbourne Oval Stadium, Nelson Mandela Bay
Referee: Luxolo Badi (South Africa)
Zambia 1–0 South Africa
  • Banda  84'
 Report
Referee: Thulani Sibandze (Eswatini)

Third place match
Angola 2–1 Malawi
  • Kossi  9'
  • Hequele  41'
 Report
  • Lameck  1'

Final
Zambia 1–1 South Africa
 Report
  • Mahlangu  14' (pen.)
Penalties
  • Chaiwa
  • Banda
  • Majapa
  • Ng’ambi
2–4
  • Sishi
  • Mgiba
  • Phalane
  • Dopolo
  • Dithejane
Referee: Artur Alfinar (Mozambique)

Qualification for CAF Cup of Nations

The two finalists of the tournament will qualify for the 2021 Africa U-17 Cup of Nations. Qualified nations:

Nation Previous participation Best result
 Zambia 2015 Group Stage
 South Africa 2005,2007,2015 Silver medalists

Champion
 2020 COSAFA Under-17 Champion 

South Africa
Third title

Top Scorers
Representing Player Goals
Joseph Banda 5
Custódio Hequele 4

COSAFA-La Liga partnership

South Africa's Mduduzi Shabalala and Zambia's Joseph Banda was selected by the Technical Study Group to be traveling to Spain for a LaLiga development experience, where they will get the opportunity to observe the football life in Spain and train with a local team. The duo become the first players along with their two counterparts from 2020 COSAFA Women's U17 Championship to get this opportunity on account of the new formalization of the partnership between COSAFA and La Liga to boost Southern African football[1][8]

Disqualification

Prior the tournament, CAF scanned all players with MRI, to make sure that everyone was eligible for the age-category. In the tournament regulations there is stated that the scanning will take place and a team that have players that do not pass the eligibility test will be disqualified and sent home as soon as possible. The test that is used world wide to measure eligibility for U17 tournaments focus on bone fusions in the wrist that are unlikely (with 99% accuracy rate) to appear before the age of 17.

Comoros, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Eswatini, were all found to have one or more players too old to participate in the tournament whereby the teams were disqualified. Because of this, it was decided to re-start the tournament with the other four teams and regard the already played games as warm-up for the tournament without any result value. The tournament were decided to be played as a round-robin where the top two qualify for the final (as well as the 2021 Africa U-17 Cup of Nations) and the bottom two qualify for the bronze medal game.[9][10]

Original draw

The teams were on the 2nd of November drawn from 2 different pots, as the top-seeded teams were placed in one group each. After drawing the first two teams from pot 1 the last team were put together with the teams from pot 2 to draw the last two teams to each group.[11]

Top seeded Pot 1 Pot 2
 Zambia (2019 Champions)

 South Africa (Hosts)

  Angola

 Botswana  Malawi

  Eswatini

 Comoros  Zimbabwe

Abandoned Group stage

Group A
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  South Africa (H) 1 1 0 0 2 0 +2 3 Semi-finals
2  Angola 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 1
3  Zimbabwe (D) 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 1
4  Eswatini (D) 1 0 0 1 0 2 −2 0
Updated to match(es) played on November 19. Source: COSAFA.com
(D) Disqualified; (H) Host.
 Zimbabwe1–1 Angola
  • Chiwashira  5' (pen.)
 Report
Referee: Vistoria Nuusiku Shangula (Namibia)
 South Africa2–0 Eswatini
  • Mahlangu  38'
  • Phalane  78' (pen.)
 Report
Referee: Audrick Nkole (Zambia)

Group B
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Zambia 1 1 0 0 2 0 +2 3 Semi-finals
2  Botswana (D) 1 0 1 0 2 2 0 1
3  Malawi 1 0 1 0 2 2 0 1
4  Comoros (D) 1 0 0 1 0 2 −2 0
Updated to match(es) played on November 20. Source: COSAFA.com
(D) Disqualified.
 Malawi2–2 Botswana
  • Mapulanga  12'
  • Chiwanda  90'
 Report
  • Thlowe  45+2'
  • Kgaolo  82'
Referee: Luxolo Badi (South Africa)
 Zambia2–0 Comoros
  • Mumba  31'
  • Banda  ?'
 Report
Referee: Thulani Sibandze (Eswatini)

Abandoned Knockout stage
 
Semi-finalsFinal
 
      
 
27 November – Gelvandale Stadium
 
 
Group B winner
 
29 November – Gelvandale Stadium
 
Group A runners-up
 
 
 
27 November – Gelvandale Stadium
 
 
 
Group A winner
 
 
Group B runners-up
 
Third place
 
 
29 November – Gelvandale Stadium
 
 
 
 
 
 

References
  1. "South Africa win COSAFA Qualifiers for TOTAL U-17 AFCON, Morocco 2021!". Council of Southern Africa Football Associations. Retrieved 29 November 2020.
  2. "COSAFA Men's U17 and U20 fixtures provide eye-catching entertainment". Council of Southern Africa Football Associations. Retrieved 6 November 2020.
  3. "Cosafa U20, U17 Draws Unveiled". Zambia Reports. Retrieved 6 November 2020.
  4. "Malawi to host 2020 COSAFA U-17 championship again this year". Nyasa Times. Retrieved 6 November 2020.
  5. "Malawi to host 2020 Cosafa Under-17". The Times Group. Retrieved 6 November 2020.
  6. "Zambia U17 Win Annulled After 4 Teams Expelled From COSAFA U17 Cup". Lusaka Times. Retrieved 20 November 2020.
  7. "2020 COSAFA Men's Under-17 Championships in Numbers". Council of Southern Africa Football Associations. Retrieved 6 November 2020.
  8. "LaLiga and Cosafa team up again". Supersport. Retrieved 29 November 2020.
  9. "Four teams disqualified from COSAFA zonal qualifier". Council of Southern Africa Football Associations. Retrieved 20 November 2020.
  10. "Age-cheating puts a damper on Cosafa U-17 competition". News 24. Retrieved 20 November 2020.
  11. "Men's U17 and U20 teams to learn their COSAFA Championships fate on Monday". Council of Southern Africa Football Associations. Retrieved 6 November 2020.
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