CAF African Schools Football Championship | COSAFA Qualifier in Numbers

The CAF African Schools Football Championship | COSAFA Qualifier, South Africa 2025, will bring together the best Under-15 boys and girls footballers in the Southern African region with the sole aim of qualifying their country for the continental finals next year.

It will not only be a spectacular celebration of schools football, but also a superb learning opportunity for young players, most of whom will be competing on the international stage for the first time.

We round up the numbers behind the tournament that will be staged in Stellenbosch, South Africa, from December 5–7.

1 – Each competing team must have a safeguarding officer as part of their delegation. This is an important aspect of the tournament, which is also used to educate students about life skills.

1 – South Africa became the first team from the COSAFA region to claim a continental victory when they lifted the Girls’ trophy at the CAF African Schools Football Championship Continental Finals in Zanzibar in 2024. They had previously finished runners-up in the Boys’ competition in 2023.

1 – CS Ben Sekou Sylla from Guinea were the inaugural winners of the Boys’ competition at the CAF African Schools Football Championship Continental Finals that were staged in Durban, South Africa, in 2023. Fountain Gate School from Tanzania won the Girls’ competition. Since that first edition, the teams have been made up of nationally selected players rather than individual schools.

2 – South Africa’s last two victories in the Boys’ competition have both come via penalty shoot-outs wins in the final. They defeated Malawi on spot-kicks in 2023 and Zambia in 2024.

3 – South Africa has won both the COSAFA Boys’ and Girls’ competitions in each of the three years the tournaments have been played. Can someone break their run in this year’s event?

3 – In the pool phase, the teams will get three points for a win, one for a draw and none for a loss. If two teams are tied on points at the end of the pool phase, they will be separated by head-to-head results between them, then goal difference in all group games, number of goals scored and finally the drawing of lots.

4 – South Africa are the fourth country to host the CAF African Schools Football Championship | COSAFA Qualifier. Malawi staged the tournament in the inaugural year in 2022, Zimbabwe was the host in 2023, and Namibia hosted in 2024.

11 – The record number of COSAFA nations who will be sending teams this year: Angola, Botswana, Comoros, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe. All nations must field both Boys’ and Girls’ teams.

15 – Both the Boys’ and the Girls’ tournaments are in the Under-15 age group. It means all players must have been born on or after January 1, 2010.

2026 – The continental finals, featuring the winners from each of the six CAF zones, will take place next year.

100,000 – The winners of the CAF African Schools Football Championship | COSAFA Qualifier will receive a USD 100,000 first prize. The second-placed team gets USD 75,000 and the bronze medallists USD 50,000.

300,000 – The winners of the CAF African Schools Football Championship Continental Finals in 2026 will each receive USD 300,000 in prize money to be utilised for school development projects. The runners-up will receive USD 200,000.

10,000,000 – In all, the Motsepe Foundation has made a USD 10,000,000 investment into the CAF African Schools Football Championship, with CAF President Dr Patrice Motsepe spearheading the initiative.