Malawi women return to COSAFA U20 stage in Windhoek

Malawi did not take part in either the 2019 or 2024 COSAFA Women’s Under-20 Championships but have appeared in this age-group before at the Region 5 Games as they prepare to take part in Windhoek, Namibia from July 4-13.

The 2018 Games staged in Botswana, Malawi drew their opener 1-1 with the hosts, defeated Lesotho 6-1 but then lost their final pool game to Zimbabwe 0-1.

That meant they did not make it out of their pool having finished third in their group.
They will be hoping to do better this time round having been drawn into Group A, when they have a near identical programme

They will face hosts Namibia in their opener on July 4, before a clash with Botswana on July 6 and a final pool meeting with Zimbabwe on July 8.

Malawi were COSAFA Women’s Championship winners in 2023 and have long been competitive in women’s football at all age-groups. This will be a chance to show that again.

They first entered the qualifiers for the FIFA Under-20 Women’s World Cup in the 2020 edition but were edged 2-1 on aggregate by COSAFA rivals Zimbabwe.

They met Zambia in the first round qualifiers for the 2022 edition and lost 8-1 on aggregate. They did not enter for the 2024 edition.

They have entered again for 2026 though and will face South Sudan in September for what they will believe is a real chance to advance to the second stage for the first time.

The Region 5 Games in Windhoek will provide superb preparation for those matches.