Mozambique pulls out as U-20 Cosafa hosts

Mozambique has pulled out as hosts for Under-20 Council for Southern Africa Football Associations (Cosafa) 2017 edition of the youth tournament slated from December 1 to 10.

Cosafa deputy chief executive officer Suzgo Nyirenda, who is responsible for competitions, said the regional soccer governing body is courting national associations interested to host the tourney.

He said: “Yes, Mozambique will be unable to host the under-20 tournament this year due to unexplained reasons. We have since started courting interested national associations.”

Nyirenda, however, said Cosafa is confident of getting a replacement.

He said: “We are not pressing the panic button as we are confident of finding another country to host the tournament in the due course. Zambia has shown interest, but we expect the interested associations to get their government’s approval in writing.

“We expect government to be part and parcel of the tournament and Mozambique FA did not get that approval to date when they have finally announced that they are pulling out.”

Meanwhile, Football Association of Malawi (FAM) general secretary Alfred Gunda said he was briefed on the development.

“They [Mozambique] had doubted about hosting the tournament for a while. The last time I talked to the Cosafa deputy CEO, he said they were already talking to another country to take over. So, for us, we will continue with the preparations as planned because the tournament is still on,” he said.

Mozambique’s position comes at a time Malawi under-20 national football team is already in camp in preparation for the competition.

Under-20 coach Gerald Phiri called a 29-member squad to undergo camp at Chiwembe’s Mpira Village.

Malawi has failed to go past the group stages in the past two editions of the Cosafa Under-20 tournament. n