Cosafa U-17, U-20 draw tomorrow
Malawi Under-20 and Under-17 national football teams will tomorrow know their opponents in the Cosafa tourneys whose ultimate prizes are tickets to the Confederation of African Football (CAF) TotalEnergies Under-20 and Under-17 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) qualifiers.
Council for Southern Africa Football Associations (Cosafa) will hold the two draws for the competitions in Maputo, Mozambique, hosts of the events.
The Under-20 tournament will be held from September 26 to October 5 while the Under-17 men’s and women’s tourneys will be played from December 5-15.
The junior Flames will be among 12 teams eyeing a place at the TotalEnergies CAF Under-20 and Under-17 Afcon finals next year, according to a statement from Cosafa.
The statement reads in part: “The teams will be split into three groups each containing four sides, with the top side in each pool and the best placed runner-up advancing to the semi-finals. The winners of those semis will not only have a shot at the title, but also earn their place at the continental event.
“Angola, Botswana, Comoros, E-swatini, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Zimbabwe and holders Zambia will be in the draw, with only Mauritius and Seychelles not competing this time round.”
Football Association of Malawi (FAM) competitions and communications director Gomezgani Zakazaka in an interview yesterday confirmed Malawi’s participation in the competitions.
He said: “FAM already made a commitment to participate in all these competitions.”
The Under-20 Cosafa tournament was last held in 2022 and Malawi failed to reach the knockout stage after finishing as runners up to leaders South Africa in Group C.
The Under-17 boys and girls tournament also did not take place last year but Malawi finished third in both competitions in 2022.
