History of women’s U20 football at COSAFA events

This year might see just the second ever staging of the COSAFA Women’s Under-20 Championship in Gauteng from November 19-24, but that does not mean there has not been competitions held under other guises in this age-group in the past.

COSAFA’s expertise has been used to hold the football competitions at the AUSC Region 5 Games, where an Under-20 women’s competition was initially played before it was switched to Under-17s.

Here is a quick look back at the three Region 5 Games and who took home the gold medal, as well as the inaugural COSAFA Women’s Under-20 Championship in 2019.

2014 AUSC REGION 5 GAMES
The tournament only featured four teams and was played as a round-robin competition, which was won by South Africa as they claimed victory in all three of their matches.

After a 3-1 victory over Botswana in their opener, Banyana defeated Zimbabwe 5-0 and then claimed a 6-1 success over Namibia.

The likes of Linda Sepotokelle, Gabriella Salgado, Amogelang Motau and Mosili Makhoali all starred for the South Africans.

2016 AUSC REGION 5 GAMES
South Africa were crowned AUSC Zone 5 Games champions after beating neighbours Namibia 5-0 in the final in Luanda, Angola.

South Africa managed to impress throughout the tournament and current Banyana Banyana stars such as Karabo Dlamini and Linda Matlhola showed their star potential throughout.

A hat-trick by Dlamini and two goals from Matlhola was all they needed to unease the Brave Warriors in the final.

Angola’s campaign did not start well but ended on a high as they managed to get the bronze medal after a convincing 4-0 win over Zimbabwe in the third-place play-off.

2018 AUSC REGION 5 GAMES
South Africa retained their Women’s Under-20 title at 2018 Games after a slender 1-0 victory over hosts Botswana in the final in Gaborone.

Lindokuhle Gladile scored the only goal of the game on 75 minutes as South Africa kept up their excellent record in this competition to take home the gold medal, consigning hosts Botswana to a worthy silver.

Zimbabwe claimed the bronze medal after second half goals from Prayance Zvawanda and Valeria Padery gave them a 2-0 win over Namibia in the third-place play-off.

2019 COSAFA WOMEN’S UNDER-20 CHAMPIONSHIP
The inaugural COSAFA event was played concurrently with the senior women’s championship in Nelson Mandela Bay.
Eight teams took part and it was hosts south Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia and east African guest nation Tanzania that made it through the group phase.

Zambia met Zimbabwe in the semifinals last time round, edging to a 1-0 victory thanks to a goal from Mary Mambwe.

The other semifinal pitted South Africa against Tanzania, but it was the guest nation who were too strong as they ran out 2-0 winners thanks to goals from Enekia Lunyamila and Opa Sanga.

Tanzania took a 1-0 lead in the final through Opah Clement, who later moved to Turkey, but Zambia equalised via Loveness Malunga.
With extra-time looming, Protasia Mbunda scored the winner four minutes from the end to hand Tanzania the title.