Cosafa Cup Draw Set For Next Week Friday

By Antony Isaiah Jr…….

Malawi National Football Team will know their opponents in the Cosafa Cup as the Council of Southern Africa Football Associations (Cosafa) has announced that the draw for the 22nd edition of the COSAFA Cup will be held next week Friday, May 29, 2023.

The draw is expected to be held in Johannesburg soon after the COSAFA’s Annual General Meeting.

COSAFA has also revealed that this year’s edition has seen the format of the tournament being changed which will see 12 teams take part, split into three groups of four sides, with the three pool winners and the best runner-up advancing to the semifinals.

It is a departure from the previous format in which there were two groups of four teams and another six sides entered at the quarterfinal stage. There will also be no Plate competition this year.

“The new format ensures each country will play a minimum of three games up to a maximum of five over the course of the competition. It also allows for an extra days’ rest between most pool games, a boost for player welfare.

“The competition will give vital game-time for players and coaches to teams still in the qualifiers for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations finals and provide much-needed international exposure for those out of the running,” announces the Council of Southern Africa Football Associations.

Hosts South Africa, last year’s winners Zambia and the 2022 runners-up Namibia will be the seeded teams in the three pools.

The dates have been set for the 2023 COSAFA CUP, which will be played in an exciting new format this year when it is staged in the South African coastal city of Durban from July 5-16.

The pool games will be played from July 5-12, with the semifinals on July 14 and the final and third-place play-off to be staged at the King Zwelithini Stadium two days later.

The 21 previous editions of the COSAFA Cup have seen some great performances and incredible games that have been written into the folklore of Southern African football, but only five nations can claim to have lifted the coveted trophy.

Zimbabwe and Zambia are locked together on six wins each, with South Africa (five), Angola (three) and Namibia (one) the only other teams to claim regional glory.

Mozambique, Malawi, and Botswana have all been finalists twice, but ended up on the losing side on both occasions. Lesotho (2000) are the only other COSAFA team to reach the decider, with Senegal the first guest nation to do so in 2021.

The COSAFA Cup kicks-off a busy calendar of events for COSAFA in the second half of 2023 with as many as nine tournaments planned between now and the end of the year.

Initially, the flagship Cosafa Men’s championship was slated for May 27-10 June before being rescheduled to July.

The Flames, under the tutelage of interim coach Patrick Mabedi, were preparing to use the tournament as the preparations for the AFCON Qualifiers against Ethiopia and Guinea instead the Football Association has secured a friendly match against Mozambique.

’’The new coach won’t have an opportunity to reorganise the team and test his new players before playing the crucial qualifier against Ethiopia. This is a missed opportunity for Cosafa members to gain advantage over other zones as Afcon qualifiers are going towards the closing stages.

“However, I believe Cosafa was left with no alternative considering the circumstances. So we have to accept the outcome and find other feasible means of preparing the team,’’ Nyamilandu said.

Cosafa Cup is expected to be the first tournament for Mabedi who replaced Mario Marinica last month after Fam decided against renewing his contract due to poor results.

During the 2022 edition held in South Africa, the Flames were eliminated in the group stages after one win, a draw and a loss.