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2020 COSAFA Under-17 Championship

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2020 COSAFA Under-17 Championship
Tournament details
Host countrySouth AfricaSouth 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)Zambia Joseph Banda
Best player(s)South Africa Mduduzi Shabalala
Best goalkeeperZambia Eric Makungu
Fair play award Zambia
← 2019 2021 →
International football competition

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, which in turn is the qualifier for the 2021 FIFA U-17 World Cup and will be played on November 19–29 in Nelson Mandela Bay and the two finalists of the tournament will be representing COSAFA in the Africa U-17 Cup of Nations. Initially, it was planned to be played in Malawi in July 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.

Participating teams

Last year's runners-up Mozambique were meant to be the 9th nation to participate, 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:

So the tournament restarted with the following genuine combatants:

Match Officials

Referees


Assistant Referees

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) Hosts
Angola 1–2 Zambia
Report
Gelvandale Stadium, Nelson Mandela BayReferee: Tshepo Gobagoba (Botswana)
South Africa 2–2 Malawi
Report
Gelvandale Stadium, Nelson Mandela BayReferee: Thanks Nyahuye (Zimbabwe)
South Africa 2–1 Angola
Report
Gelvandale Stadium, Nelson Mandela BayReferee: Lawrence Zimondi (Zimbabwe)
Zambia 6–2 Malawi
Report
Gelvandale Stadium, Nelson Mandela BayReferee: Artur Alfinar (Mozambique)
Malawi 1–7 Angola
Report
Westbourne Oval Stadium, Nelson Mandela BayReferee: Luxolo Badi (South Africa)
Zambia 1–0 South Africa
Report
Gelvandale Stadium, Nelson Mandela BayReferee: Thulani Sibandze (Eswatini)

Third place match

Angola 2–1 Malawi
Report
Gelvandale Stadium, Nelson Mandela BayReferee: Vistoria Shangula (Namibia)

Final

Zambia 1–1 South Africa
Report
Penalties
2–4
Gelvandale Stadium, Nelson Mandela BayReferee: 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
Zambia Joseph Banda 5
Angola 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

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.

Original draw

The teams were on 2 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.

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) Hosts
 Zimbabwe1–1 Angola
Report
Gelvandale StadiumReferee: Vistoria Nuusiku Shangula (Namibia)
 South Africa2–0 Eswatini
Report
Gelvandale StadiumReferee: 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 Semi-finals
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
Report
Gelvandale StadiumReferee: Luxolo Badi (South Africa)
 Zambia2–0 Comoros
Report
Gelvandale StadiumReferee: 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. Archived from the original on 18 November 2020. 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.

External links

COSAFA championships
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Women
Men U20
Women U20
Men U17
Women U17
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