Southern Africa’s rising football stars set for battle

**The next generation of Southern African football talent will take centre stage in Mozambique from 18-27 September when 12 nations compete in the TotalEnergies CAF under-20 Africa Cup of Nations | Cosafa Qualifier, with regional honours and two coveted places at the continental finals in Ghana next year at stake. **

The competition brings together Angola, Botswana, Comoros, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa and Zambia in what promises to be a fiercely contested nine days of football.

The teams have been divided into three groups of four, with only the winner of each pool and the best runner-up advancing to the semifinals, leaving little margin for error during the group phase.

Hosts Mozambique headline Group A alongside Namibia, Mauritius and Seychelles, while reigning champions South Africa have been drawn with Angola, Lesotho and Eswatini in Group B. Record winners Zambia head Group C and will face Malawi, Comoros and Botswana.

The competition gets under way at the Zimpeto Stadium on Friday, 18 September, when Namibia meet Mauritius at 12h00 Central African Time (CAT) before two enticing contests later in the day. Zambia renew their long-standing regional rivalry with Malawi at 15h00 CAT, before hosts Mozambique complete the opening programme against Seychelles at 18h00 CAT.

Group B begins a day later at the same venue as South Africa open their title defence against Lesotho at 12h00, followed by Angola against Eswatini at 15h00 and Comoros against Botswana in Group C at 18h00.

Matches will be streamed live for free on Fifa+, Cosafa’s YouTube channel and CAF TV. Matches will also be broadcast on TVM. The group phase continues through to 23 September, with the simultaneous final fixtures ensuring there will be plenty of drama as teams chase the four semifinal places.

The regional under-20 competition has long provided a platform for some of Southern Africa’s leading players to emerge before going on to senior international and club careers. Zambia remain the benchmark with a record 12 regional titles, having also been the inaugural champions in 1983. South Africa have rapidly closed the gap and now sit on 10 crowns, while Zimbabwe have six. Madagascar and Mozambique are the only other nations to have lifted the trophy, with one title each. Across the 30 editions staged through 2025, only those five countries have been crowned champions.

That means only three previous champions are in the 2026 field – Zambia, South Africa and Mozambique – leaving nine countries chasing the opportunity to add a new name to the roll of honour.

South Africa defeated Zambia 2-0 in the final of the 2024 qualifier in Mozambique to win their ninth regional title, with both finalists earning places at the 2025 TotalEnergies CAF u20 Africa Cup of Nations. They then went one better on the continental stage, defeating Morocco to become African champions, before adding another regional title at the 2025 Region 5 Games in Namibia.

Zambia, though, remain the most successful side in the history of the regional championship and were last crowned champions in 2022, when they beat Mozambique 1-0 in the final. Hosts Mozambique also know what it takes to go all the way, having won their maiden title in 2020 and finished runners-up to Zambia two years later.

The two teams that reach the final will earn Southern Africa’s places at the TotalEnergies CAF under-20 Africa Cup of Nations Ghana 2027, which will be staged in February and March next year. Ghana will host the tournament for the second time after previously staging – and winning – the competition in 1999. That makes the semifinals on Friday, 25 September potentially the most important matches of the tournament.

The Group B winners will face the Group C winners at ABB 2 at 12h00 CAT, before the Group A winners meet the best runner-up at the same venue at 18h00 CAT. The winners of those matches will secure qualification for Ghana as well as a place in the regional decider.

After a rest day, the competition concludes at ABB 1 on Sunday, 27 September. The two beaten semi-finalists will contest the third-place play-off at 11h00 CAT, before the new regional champions are crowned in the 14h00 CAT final.

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