Namibia look to home comforts at COSAFA U17 Girls’ Championship

Hosts Namibia will seek to use home ground to their advantage when they stage the COSAFA Under-17 Girls’ Championship in Windhoek, Namibia from May 10-17.

Namibia have found the going tough in the competition to date, losing all seven matches they have played and managing to score only two goals in the process.

They are the seeded team in Group A this time round along with Malawi and Comoros, with the top team in each pool to advance to the semifinals along with the best second-placed side.

Namibia is the fifth nation to host the prestigious Under-17 competition after Mauritius (2019), South Africa (2020, 2024), Lesotho (2021) and Malawi (2022). There was no tournament staged in 2023.

They did not participate in the first two but made their bow at the reduced three-team competition in Maseru in 2021 that was badly affected by travel logistics due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

They were competitive in that tournament and scored their first goal through Anna Somses in a 2-1 loss to Botswana. They were also defeated 2-0 by eventual champions Zambia.

Namibia were back the following year as the competition moved to Lilongwe but found the going even tougher as they suffered a pair of 12-0 losses to South Africa and hosts Malawi in a difficult campaign.

They were back for the 2024 tournament when it returned to the calendar but again struggled to make an impression.

They lost 5-0 to Madagascar and South Africa, and 6-1 to Malawi, with Nancy Lebang scoring their goal.

That tournament was played in December last year and no doubt several of their players will return a few months later to compete again.

They will have leant much from that experience and hope to put on a better show in front of their own fans … and perhaps claim a first win.

NAMIBIA
Tournament finishes:
2019 – Did not enter
2020 – Did not enter
2021 – Group Stages
2022 – Group Stages
2023 – Not played
2024 – Group Stages

All-time match record:
P7 W0 D0 L7   GF2 GA44

Biggest victory: –
Biggest defeat: 0-12 vs South Africa (Group Stage, 03/12/2022); 0-12 vs Malawi (Group Stage, 05/12/2022)

ALL-TIME GOALSCORERS
1 goal – Nancy Lebang, Anna Somses