2025 COSAFA U-20 Women's Championship
International football competition
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The 2025 COSAFA U-20 Women's Championship was the third edition of the COSAFA U-20 Women's Championship, the international women's youth football championship contested by the under-20 women's national teams of the member associations of COSAFA. The tournament doubled as the women'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] This is Namibia's sixth time hosting a COSAFA tournament, and the fifth time it's in a different competition category.[3]
| |
| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Host country | Namibia |
| Dates | 4 – 13 July |
| Teams | 8 (from 1 sub-confederation) |
| Venue | 1 (in 1 host city) |
| Final positions | |
| Champions |  Zambia (2nd title) |
| Runners-up |  South Africa |
| Third place |  Botswana |
| Fourth place |  Namibia |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 16 |
| Goals scored | 61 (3.81 per match) |
| Top scorer(s) | Bwalya Chileshe Ruth Mukoma (6 goals each) |
| Best player | Saliya Mwanza |
| Best goalkeeper | Margaret Phiri |
| Fair play award | Namibia |
← 2024 TBD → | |
Zambia were the title-holders, having won their first title in last year's edition.[4] and they successfully defended their crown, completing the tournament unbeaten and without conceding a single goal.[5]
Participation
Participating teams
Eight of the 14 COSAFA Member Associations entered teams for the competition, with Angola and Malawi making their tournament debuts.
| Team | App | Last | Previous best performance | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Angola |
1st | Debut | ||
| Botswana |
3rd | 2024 | Group stage (2019) | [6] |
 Eswatini |
2nd | 2019 | Group stage (2019) | [7] |
 Malawi |
1st | Debut | [8] | |
| Namibia |
2nd | 2019 | Group stage (2019) | [9] |
| South Africa |
3rd | 2024 | Runners-up (2024) | [10] |
| Zambia |
3rd | 2024 | Champions (2024) | [11] |
 Zimbabwe |
2nd | 2019 | Fourth place (2019) | [12] |
- Did not enter
Comoros
Lesotho
Madagascar
Mauritius
Mozambique
Seychelles
Draw
The tournament draw took place on 27 April 2025.[13]
The draw resulted in the following groups:
| Pos | Team |
|---|---|
| B1 | Zambia |
| B2 | South Africa |
| B3 | Eswatini |
| B4 | Angola |
- Mozambique, who were initially set to participate and were included in the original draw, later withdrew from the tournament. They were subsequently replaced by Malawi, who took their spot in the group.
Venues
The women's competition will mainly be held at the University of Namibia Sports Stadium, although the final and a few group stage matches will take place in the stadium designated for men's competition.[14]
| Windhoek | ||
|---|---|---|
| UNAM Sports Stadium | Hage Geingob Stadium | |
| Capacity: 5,000 | Capacity: 10,000 | |
 |
 | |
Group stage
All times are local, CAT (UTC+2). The match schedule was confirmed by COSAFA on 13 June 2025.[15]
Group A
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Namibia (H) |
3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 1 | +2 | 7 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 2 | Botswana |
3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 3 | +1 | 6 | |
| 3 | Zimbabwe |
3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 6 | +1 | 3 | |
| 4 | Malawi |
3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 7 | −4 | 1 |
Group B
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Zambia |
3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 19 | 0 | +19 | 9 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 2 | South Africa |
3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 5 | +3 | 6 | |
| 3 | Angola |
3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 15 | −9 | 3 | |
| 4 | Eswatini |
3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 15 | −13 | 0 |
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers
| Zambia | 3–0 | South Africa |
|---|---|---|
|
Report |
| South Africa | 3–0 | Eswatini |
|---|---|---|
|
Report |
| South Africa | 5–2 | Angola |
|---|---|---|
|
Report |
|
Knockout stage
Bracket
| Semi-finals | Final | |||||
| 11 July | ||||||
| Zambia | 5 | |||||
| 13 July | ||||||
| Botswana | 0 | |||||
| Zambia | 2 | |||||
| 11 July | ||||||
| South Africa | 0 | |||||
| Namibia | 0 | |||||
| South Africa | 1 | |||||
| Third place | ||||||
| 12 July | ||||||
| Botswana | 1 | |||||
| Namibia | 0 | |||||
Semi-finals
| Namibia | 0–1 | South Africa |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
|
Third place
Final
| Zambia | 2–0 | South Africa |
|---|---|---|
|
Report |
Goalscorers
There were 61 goals scored in 16 matches, for an average of 3.81 goals per match.
6 goals
Bwalya Chileshe- Ruth Mukoma
4 goals
Lindelwa Mabuza
3 goals
Maria Viera
Hope Lesotlo- Saliya Mwanza
2 goals
- Glória Araújo
Victoria Mkwala
Ontheedite Tokwane- Katleho Malebana
- Lweendo Hanongo
- Victoria Mbali
- Ruth Muwowo
Plaxina Bandason- Alicia Chinyoka
1 goal
- Sandra Correia
- Amogelang Sebotho
- Shirley Tokonyane
Sethabile Dlamini- Nozenzo Gama
- Faluna Umali
- Renalda Hangula
- Khwezi Khoza
- Zizipho Mhlahlo
- Busisiwe Mokoena
- Eunice Bwalya
- Nana Malanda
- Lombanya Mwewa
- Grace Phiri
- Zangose Zulu
- Merian Genti
- Priviledge Mashanda
- Ntokozo Mpofu