South Africa among the favourites for Region 5 Games title

South Africa have been a power in the region at the women’s U20 level for some time and will be among the favourites to lift the Region 5 Games title when the latest championship is played in Windhoek, Namibia from July 4-13.

They have won the three Region 5 Games women’s under-20 tournaments in the past that were played between 2014 and 2018, and finished third in the inaugural 2019 COSAFA Under-20 Women’s Championship.

They went one better than that in the 2024 edition with a silver medal, though fell short of great rivals Zambia in the round-robin competition as the latter picked up the gold.

South Africa claimed wins over Mozambique (4-0), Lesotho (3-0) and Botswana (3-0), but a 0-3 loss to the Zambians proved decisive.

In 2019 they breezed through their group with wins over Zimbabwe (3-0), Namibia (1-0) and Mozambique (3-1), but came unstuck in the semifinals where they lost 0-2 to eventual champions Tanzania.

They played Zimbabwe again in the battle for bronze and edged the tie 4-3 on penalties after a 1-1 draw.

They claimed the round-robin Region 5 Games competition in 2014 with three wins against Botswana (3-1), Zimbabwe (5-0) and Namibia (6-1).

Two years later they repeated the feat, beating Namibia in the final as current Banyana

Banyana stars such as Linda Motlhalo shone.

At the finals in 2018, the side were victorious again, this time beating hosts Botswana 1-0 in the decider.

South Africa have entered every campaign for the CAF qualifiers for the FIFA Under-20 Women’s World Cup, but failed at the final hurdle on five occasions, never making it through to the global competition.

A combination of Nigeria, DR Congo and Ghana have denied them a place down the years, while they were beaten by Uganda in the third round in 2022 and Burundi on away goals in the second round ahead of 2024.

They will take on Eswatini in the second round of qualifiers for the 2026 edition in September this year, with the Region 5 Games providing the perfect preparation for that tie.