Zambia to defend COSAFA Women’s U20 crown at Region 5 Games

Zambia have traditionally been one of the top sides in the COSAFA region across all ages and genders in football, winning titles and reaching finals with regularity.

They are the defending champions in the women’s Under-20 category as they look to retain their title when the Region 5 Games is played in Windhoek, Namibia from July 4-13.

They start with a Group B clash against old foes South Africa on July 5, before a meeting with Angola two days later and a final pool fixture versus Eswatini on July 9.

The top two teams in each pool advance to the semifinals.
Zambia eased to the regional crown in the five-team round-robin COSAFA Women’s Under-20 Championship in 2024.

They started with a 9-0 win over Lesotho, before a pivotal 3-0 success against South Africa. That was followed by a 6-0 win against Botswana and a 1-0 success versus Mozambique as they lifted the trophy without conceding a goal.

Zambia were runners-up at the inaugural 2019 COSAFA Under-20 Women’s Championship that was staged in Gqeberha.

They breezed through their group with wins over Eswatini (4-0), Botswana (4-1) and Tanzania (2-1), and then defeated Zimbabwe 1-0 in the semifinals.

That set up a second match against Tanzania in the final and this time it was the East African guest nation that triumphed 2-1.

Zambia did not participate in the 2014 or 2016 AUSC Region 5 Games that had a women’s Under-20 competition, but did reach the semifinals of the 2018 competition.

There they came up against Tanzania as well and were edged on penalties, before losing to Eswatini 0-1 in the bronze-medal match.

They were defeated in the quarterfinals of the continental qualifiers in 2002, losing 4-2 on aggregate to South Africa, and then have lost to Mozambique (2-5 in 2006), Egypt (on away goals after 3-3 draw in 2008), South Africa again in 2010 (2-7) and 2015 (2-3), Kenya (2-5 in 2012) and Equatorial Guinea (0-6) in 2014.

South Africa edged them 2-3 on aggregate for the 2016 global finals, while they did not enter in 2018 and lost to Ghana 0-1 in the 2022 qualifiers and on away goals to DR Congo for 2024.

For the 2026 edition they will face Burundi in the second round of qualifiers in September.