The COSAFA Cup (known fully as COSAFA Senior Challenge Cup) is an annual tournament for teams from Southern Africa organized by Council of Southern Africa Football Associations (COSAFA), inaugurated after the ban against the Republic of South Africa had been lifted and the African Cup of Nations had been staged there in 1996.

COSAFA Cup
Organising bodyCOSAFA
Founded1983
RegionSouthern Africa
Number of teams14
Current champions Angola
(4th title)
Most successful team(s) Zambia
(7 titles)
Websitecosafa.com
2024 COSAFA Cup
COSAFA

History

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The following teams have participated in the tournament in the past: Angola, Botswana, Comoros, Eswatini (Swaziland), Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Additionally, seven non-COSAFA members have competed: Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Senegal. Zambia has won the most titles with seven wins, followed by Zimbabwe with six wins. Zambia has been the most prolific side in the competition failing to reach the top 4 only four times since the tournament's inception. The first editions of the competition were a knockout tournament staged over several months. As the competition grew, it transformed into a series of mini-tournaments.[1]

The 2010 COSAFA Senior Challenge was to be the 14th edition of the football tournament that involves teams from Southern Africa. In July 2010 it was confirmed that Angola would host the competition.[2] The 2010 edition of the competition was cancelled in October, 2010.[3] COSAFA stated that the Angolan authorities did not give enough guarantees to host the tournament.

Results

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Year Host Final Third Place Match
Winner Score Runner-up 3rd Place Score 4th Place
1997
Details
Home/away  
Zambia
n/a  
Namibia
 
Mozambique
n/a  
Tanzania
1998
Details
Home/away  
Zambia
n/a  
Zimbabwe
 
Angola
n/a  
Namibia
1999
Details
Home/away  
Angola
1–0
1–1
 
Namibia
  Swaziland and   Zambia
2000
Details
Home/away  
Zimbabwe
3–0
3–0
 
Lesotho
  South Africa and   Angola
2001
Details
Home/away  
Angola
0–0
1–0
 
Zimbabwe
 
Malawi
2–1  
Zambia
2002
Details
Home/away  
South Africa
3–1
1–0
 
Malawi
  Swaziland and   Zambia
2003
Details
Home/away  
Zimbabwe
2–1
2–0
 
Malawi
  Zambia and   Swaziland
2004
Details
Various hosts  
Angola
0–0
(5–4 pen.)
 
Zambia
  Mozambique and   Zimbabwe
2005
Details
  Mauritius
  Namibia
  South Africa
  Zambia
 
Zimbabwe
1–0  
Zambia
  South Africa and   Angola
2006
Details
Various hosts  
Zambia
2–0  
Angola
  Botswana and   Zimbabwe
2007
Details
  Botswana
  Mozambique
  South Africa
  Swaziland
 
South Africa
0–0
(4–3 pen.)
 
Zambia
  Botswana and   Mozambique
2008
Details
  South Africa  
South Africa
2–1  
Mozambique
 
Zambia
2–0  
Madagascar
2009
Details
  Zimbabwe  
Zimbabwe
3–1  
Zambia
 
Mozambique
1–0  
South Africa
2010   Angola Cancelled[4] Cancelled
2013
Details
  Zambia  
Zambia
2–0  
Zimbabwe
 
South Africa
2–1  
Lesotho
2015
Details
  South Africa  
Namibia
2–0  
Mozambique
 
Madagascar
2–1  
Botswana
2016
Details
  Namibia  
South Africa
3–2  
Botswana
 
Swaziland
1–0  
DR Congo
2017
Details
  South Africa  
Zimbabwe
3–1  
Zambia
 
Tanzania
0–0
(4–2 pen.)
 
Lesotho
2018
Details
  South Africa  
Zimbabwe
4–2 (a.e.t.)  
Zambia
 
Lesotho
1–0  
Madagascar
2019
Details
  South Africa  
Zambia
1–0  
Botswana
 
Zimbabwe
2–2
(5–4 pen.)
 
Lesotho
2021
Details
  South Africa  
South Africa
0–0 (a.e.t.)
(5–4 pen.)
 
Senegal
 
Eswatini
1–1 (a.e.t.)
(4–2 pen.)
 
Mozambique
2022
Details
  South Africa  
Zambia
1–0 (a.e.t.)  
Namibia
 
Senegal
1–1 (a.e.t.)
(4–2 pen.)
 
Mozambique
2023
Details
  South Africa  
Zambia
1–0  
Lesotho
 
South Africa
0–0
(5–3 pen.)
 
Malawi
2024
Details
  South Africa  
Angola
5–0  
Namibia
 
Mozambique
2–2
(3–1 pen.)
 
Comoros

^n/a A round-robin tournament determined the final standings.

Teams reaching the top four

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As of 2024

Team Winners Runners-up Third Place Fourth Place Semi-finalists Top 4 Finishes
  Zambia 7 (1997, 1998, 2006, 2013, 2019, 2022, 2023) 6 (2004, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2017, 2018) 1 (2008) 1 (2001) 3 (1999, 2002, 2003) 18
  Zimbabwe 6 (2000, 2003, 2005, 2009, 2017, 2018) 3 (1998, 2001, 2013) 1 (2019) 2 (2004, 2006) 12
  South Africa 5 (2002, 2007, 2008, 2016, 2021) 2 (2013, 2023) 1 (2009) 2 (2000, 2005) 10
  Angola 4 (1999, 2001, 2004, 2024) 1 (2006) 1 (1998) 2 (2000, 2005) 8
  Namibia 1 (2015) 4 (1997, 1999, 2022, 2024) 1 (1998) 6
  Mozambique 2 (2008, 2015) 3 (1997, 2009, 2024) 2 (2021, 2022) 2 (2004, 2007) 9
  Malawi 2 (2002, 2003) 1 (2001) 1 (2023) 4
  Botswana 2 (2016, 2019) 1 (2015) 2 (2006, 2007) 5
  Lesotho 2 (2000, 2023) 1 (2018) 3 (2013, 2017, 2019) 6
  Senegal 1 (2021) 1 (2022) 2
  Eswatini[a] 2 (2016, 2021) 3 (1999, 2002, 2003) 5
  Madagascar 1 (2015) 2 (2008, 2018) 3
  Tanzania 1 (2017) 1 (1997) 2
  DR Congo 1 (2016) 1
  Comoros 1 (2024) 1

Participating nations

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Legend
Team 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 20102 2013 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2021 2022 2023 2024 Total
  Angola 3rd 1st SF 1st QF 1R 1st SF 2nd 1R QF QF x QF GS GS GS ––1 GS GS 1st 19
  Botswana 1R 1R 2R 1R 1R 1R QF QF 1R SF SF QF QF x GS 4th 2nd QF QF 2nd GS QF GS GS 23
  Comoros GS GS x GS QF ––1 GS GS 4th 7
  Eswatini[a] 1R 1R SF QF QF SF SF QF 1R 1R 1R GS GS x GS GS 3rd QF QF GS 3rd QF GS GS 23
  Lesotho 1R 1R QF 2nd QF 1R 1R 1R 1R 1R 1R GS GS x 4th GS QF 4th 3rd 4th GS GS 2nd GS 23
  Madagascar –– QF QF 1R 1R 1R 1R 4th ––1 x 3rd GS GS 4th ––1 QF 12
  Malawi 5th 1R 2R QF SF 2nd 2nd QF 1R 1R 1R GS QF x QF QF GS GS GS QF GS GS 4th 22
  Mauritius 1R QF 1R 1R QF 1R 1R 1R GS GS x GS GS GS GS GS GS GS GS 18
  Mozambique 3rd 5th QF 1R 1R QF QF SF 1R 1R SF 2nd 3rd x QF 2nd QF GS GS GS 4th 4th GS 3rd 23
  Namibia 2nd 4th 2nd QF 1R 1R 1R 1R 1R 1R 1R QF QF x QF 1st QF QF QF GS GS 2nd GS 2nd 23
  Seychelles –– 1R 1R 1R GS GS x GS GS GS GS GS GS GS GS GS 14
  South Africa 1R QF SF QF 1st QF 1R SF 1R 1st 1st 4th x 3rd QF 1st QF QF QF 1st QF 3rd GS 22
  Zambia 1st 1st SF QF SF SF SF 2nd 2nd 1st 2nd 3rd 2nd x 1st QF QF 2nd 2nd 1st GS 1st 1st GS 23
  Zimbabwe 1R 2nd QF 1st 2nd QF 1st SF 1st SF 1R QF 1st x 2nd GS GS 1st 1st 3rd GS GS 21
Guest Nations
  DR Congo* 4th 1
  Equatorial Guinea* ––1 0
  Ghana* QF 1
  Kenya* GS GS 2
  Senegal* 2nd 3rd 2
  Tanzania* 4th ––1 GS 3rd 3
  Uganda* QF 1
Total 9 10 10 11 11 12 12 12 13 13 13 14 13 0 (14) 13 14 14 14 14 13 10 14 12 12

*D.R. Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Senegal are not COSAFA members, but have been invited to participate in the past.
1 Withdrew from tournament.
2 Tournament not played.

Summary (1997–2022)

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COSAFA Cup invitees are included in the table with blue.

Rank Team Part M W D L GF GA GD Points
1   Zambia 21 63 32 22 10 93 48 +45 117
2   Zimbabwe 20 59 34 17 8 100 49 +51 113
3   South Africa 20 55 30 19 6 77 29 +48 109
4   Namibia 21 59 23 17 19 76 62 +14 86
5   Mozambique 21 61 19 15 24 59 70 -11 75
6   Eswatini 21 53 20 16 17 65 57 +8 73
7   Angola 17 43 18 15 12 47 37 +10 68
8   Malawi 21 59 16 20 23 61 71 -10 68
9   Botswana 21 51 15 17 19 52 50 +2 62
10   Lesotho 21 53 14 15 24 50 74 -24 57
11   Madagascar 12 36 14 8 14 39 38 +1 50
12   Mauritius 18 40 8 8 24 25 57 -32 32
13   Comoros 6 18 4 3 11 14 28 -14 15
14   Seychelles 13 19 1 6 27 19 64 -45 9
15   Senegal 2 9 3 4 2 13 12 +1 13
16   Tanzania 3 13 2 6 5 10 15 -5 12
17   DR Congo 1 3 1 1 1 1 1 0 4
18   Ghana 1 2 0 0 2 1 5 -4 0
19   Kenya 1 3 1 1 1 5 4 +1 4
20   Uganda 1 2 0 2 0 1 1 0 2
21   Equatorial Guinea 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Top scorers

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Peter Ndlovu of Zimbabwe and Manuel 'Tico-Tico' Bucuane of Mozambique are all-time top goalscorers in the tournament with ten goals each. In 2021 Felix Badenhorst of Eswatini moved into second position with nine goals.[5]

Year Player Goals
1998   Tauya Mrewa   Peter Ndlovu   Shepherd Muradzikwa   Benjamin Nkonjera 2
1999   Betinho 3
2000   Luke Petros   Delron Buckley 2
2001 18 players tied 1
2002   Mfanzile Dlamini   Rotson Kilambe   Teboho Mokoena   Siza Dlamini   Patrick Mayo 2
2003   Peter Ndlovu   Noel Mwandila   Russel Mwafulirwa 2
2004   Peter Ndlovu 3
2005   Collins Mbesuma 4
2006   Fabrice Akwa 3
2007   Paulin Voavy 3
2008   Phillip Zialor 4
2009   Cuthbert Malajila 4
2013   Jerome Ramatlhakwane 4
2015   Sarivahy Vombola 5
2016   Felix Badenhorst 5
2017   Ovidy Karuru 6
2018   Onkabetse Makgantai 5
2019   Gabadinho Mhango   Gerald Phiri Jr.   Ashley Nazira 3
2021   Sepana Letsoalo 4
2022   Sabelo Ndzinisa 3

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ a b Competed as Swaziland until 2018.

References

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  1. ^ "COSAFA Tournament to continue". The Lusaka Times. 24 March 2008.
  2. ^ Redvers, Lousie (29 July 2010). "Angola to Host Cosafa Cup in November". BBC News. Archived from the original on 2 August 2010. Retrieved 29 July 2010.
  3. ^ Muchinjo, Enock (18 October 2010). "COSAFA tourney cancelled, hosts blamed". Daily News. Archived from the original on 17 April 2011. Retrieved 4 December 2010.
  4. ^ "COSAFA tourney cancelled, hosts blamed". 18 October 2010. Archived from the original on 17 April 2011. Retrieved 15 November 2010.
  5. ^ "Badenhorst makes Cosafa Cup history". The Namibian. Retrieved 14 July 2021.

Kabelo

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