2025 COSAFA U-20 Championship
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 | |
| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Host country | Namibia |
| Dates | 4 – 13 July |
| Teams | 8 (from 1 sub-confederation) |
| Venue | 2 (in 1 host city) |
| Final positions | |
| Champions |  South Africa (10th title) |
| Runners-up |  Malawi |
| Third place |  Zambia |
| Fourth place |  Angola |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 16 |
| Goals scored | 44 (2.75 per match) |
| Top scorer(s) | Mwisho Mhango (4 goals) |
| Best player | Mwisho Mhango |
| Best goalkeeper | Solethu Radebe |
| Fair play award | South Africa |
← 2024 TBD → | |
The 2025 COSAFA U-20 Championship was the 30th edition of the COSAFA U-20 Youth Championship, the international youth football championship organised by COSAFA for the men's under-20 national teams of Southern Africa. The tournament doubled as the men's football competition for the AUSC Region 5 Youth Games Namibia 2025 and was hosted in Windhoek from 4 to 13 July 2025.[1][2] A total of eight teams played in the tournament, with players born on or after 1 January 2005 eligible to participate.
South Africa were the defending champions, having won their ninth title in last year's edition.[3] They successfully defended their title, finishing the tournament unbeaten.[4]
Participating teams
Note: All appearance statistics are counted starting from the 1999 edition, as limited information is available for the earlier years.
| Team | App | Last | Previous best performance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Angola[5] |
21st | 2024 | Runners-up (2000, 2001, 2002) |
 Botswana[6] |
21st | 2024 | Third place (2009, 2013) |
 Eswatini[7] |
22nd | 2024 | Third place (1985, 1986, 1988, 1990) |
| Malawi[8] |
19th | 2024 | Runners-up (2003) |
 Namibia[9] |
19th | 2024 | Runners-up (2010, 2020) |
| South Africa |
22nd | 2024 | Champions (2000, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2013, 2017, 2018, 2024) |
| Zambia[10] |
22nd | 2024 | Champions (1983, 1986, 1993, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2003, 2010, 2011, 2016, 2019, 2022) |
 Zimbabwe[11] |
20th | 2024 | Champions (1985, 1988, 1990, 2001, 2002, 2007) |
- Did not enter
Draw
The tournament final draw took place on 27 April 2025.[12]
The draw resulted in the following groups:
| Pos | Team |
|---|---|
| A1 | Namibia |
| A2 | Angola |
| A3 | Malawi |
| A4 | Zimbabwe |
| Pos | Team |
|---|---|
| B1 | South Africa |
| B2 | Zambia |
| B3 | Eswatini |
| B4 | Botswana |
Officials
A total of 6 Referees, 6 Assistants were selected for the tournament.
- Referees
Hamilton Kebonang
David Chinoko
António Chivavel
Fillipus Nghilinganye
Charles Ng'andwe
Owen Manenda
- Assistant referees
Pedro Micolo- Macário Gaveto
- Klaus Bonifatius
- Nguvitjita Huirika
Joseph Mohweleli- Tanatswa Masawi
Group stage
All times are local, CAT (UTC+2). The match schedule was confirmed by COSAFA on 13 June 2025.[13]
Group A
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Malawi |
3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 2 | +3 | 7 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 2 | Angola |
3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 1 | +3 | 7 | |
| 3 | Namibia (H) |
3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 5 | −2 | 3 | |
| 4 | Zimbabwe |
3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 7 | −4 | 0 |
| Malawi | 2–1 | Zimbabwe |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
|
| Namibia | 0–1 | Angola |
|---|---|---|
| Report | Cundula  14' |
| Angola | 1–1 | Malawi |
|---|---|---|
| Marcelo 45+4' |
Report | Mhango 17' |
Group B
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | South Africa |
3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 3 | +5 | 7 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 2 | Zambia |
3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 3 | +4 | 7 | |
| 3 | Botswana |
3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 5 | −2 | 3 | |
| 4 | Eswatini |
3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 8 | −7 | 0 |
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers
| South Africa | 3–3 | Zambia |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
| Zambia | 3–0 | Eswatini |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
| South Africa | 3–0 | Botswana |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
| South Africa | 2–0 | Eswatini |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
Knockout stage
Bracket
| Semi-finals | Final | |||||
| 11 July | ||||||
| South Africa | 2 | |||||
| 13 July | ||||||
| Angola | 0 | |||||
| South Africa | 3 | |||||
| 11 July | ||||||
| Malawi | 0 | |||||
| Malawi | 2 | |||||
| Zambia | 1 | |||||
| Third place | ||||||
| 12 July | ||||||
| Angola | 1 (4) | |||||
| Zambia (p) | 1 (5) | |||||
Semi-finals
| South Africa | 2–0 | Angola |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
| Malawi | 2–1 | Zambia |
|---|---|---|
|
Report |
|
Third place
| Angola | 1–1 | Zambia |
|---|---|---|
| Barraba 89' (pen.) |
Report | Daka 14' |
| Penalties | ||
| 4–5 | ||
