Fungai Muderere
THE COSAFA Under-20 Egypt Afcon qualifier draw was released on Friday and the region’s defending champions Mozambique were drawn in Group B together with Angola, Seychelles and Lesotho.
The Egypt Afcon qualifier tournament will be staged in Eswatini from 6 to 16 October in a competition that will have three pools.
Hosts Eswatini headline Group A and they are set to face a fierce challenge from COSAFA Under 20 record 11-time winners Zambia, as well as Botswana and Mauritius.
Group C is made up of Namibia, South Africa, Comoros and Malawi.
The competition will see the top two teams advance to the continental finals in Egypt from 18 February to 12 March next year.
The COSAFA Under 20 contest was initially scheduled to take place in December 2021 but had to be postponed due to the outbreak of Covid-19.
Only five nations have won the COSAFA Under-20 Championships previously – Zambia (11 times), South Africa (8), Zimbabwe (6), Madagascar (1) and Mozambique (1).
The Young Warriors of Zimbabwe will not compete in this year’s edition as the country’s football mother body, Zifa, is still under suspension by FIFA.
The first time the regional competition was staged for Under-20 teams was in 1983 – 39 years ago – and it was won by Zambia.
