Group recap at HOLLYWOODBETS COSAFA Women’s Championship 2025

The HOLLYWOODBETS COSAFA Women’s Championship 2025 gets under way in Polokwane on Wednesday as 11 teams from the Southern African region do battle for the coveted trophy.

It could be one of the most hotly contested tournaments yet and there is certainly much intrigue after the group-stage draw. The top teams in each pool advance to the semi-finals, along with the best runner-up.

We recap the groups and give a reminder of the history between the sides.

GROUP A
Hosts South Africa headline Group A as they hope to add to their record seven victories in this competition, and will use this squad to build towards the TotalEnergies CAF Women’s Africa Cup of Nations next month.

But one of their pool opponents will be doing the same as Malawi have qualified for the continental finals for the first time, in what are exciting times for the country.

The meeting between these two teams on the opening day at the Seshego Stadium has the potential to be a battle for the ages, and also a potential group decider very early on. That is not to disrespect the other two teams in the pool, Angola and Lesotho, but they will certainly not be favourites.

Malawi defeated South Africa 4-3 in their opening group match in 2023 on their way to lifting the title and they will hope that history repeats itself. That also proved a pool decider.

South Africa beat Malawi in a pair of friendly games in April 2025, which were their last meetings. The teams have clashed six times in the COSAFA Women’s Championship since 2018, with South Africa winning four, but Malawi the last two.

South Africa have met Angola three times in the COSAFA Women’s Championship since 2020 and won twice, to go with a 0-0 draw in 2021. They have not played Lesotho in the competition in recent times.

Malawi beat Lesotho 9-0 in the competition in 2020 and Angola 2-0 in 2021, which was their last meeting in the regional showpiece.

GROUP B
This is the proverbial ‘Group of Death’ in the competition, with defending champions Zambia taking on Botswana, Zimbabwe and Eswatini.

Zambia open against Botswana, who appeared at the last TotalEnergies CAF Women’s Africa Cup of Nations and will be no pushovers. Botswana beat them 2-1 when they last played in the COSAFA Women’s Championship in 2020, and their last two friendly meetings have both finished 1-1.

Zambia’s only meeting with Zimbabwe at the regional competition over the last decade was in 2023, when they managed a slender 1-0 victory, while they defeated Eswatini 5-0 (2021) and 2-0 (2022).

Zimbabwe have had the better of the clashes against Botswana in recent times, leading the head-to-head at the COSAFA Women’s Championship 2-1 with one draw. When they last met in 2021, Zimbabwe were 3-0 winners, while Botswana’s lone success came in 2020 with a 1-0 victory.

Botswana and Eswatini have not clashed in the Southern African championship over the last 15 years, having always been kept apart in the draw up to now.

GROUP C
Another group that will be tough to call, with three teams likely of relative strength in Namibia, Madagascar and Mozambique.

The opening game is on Friday when Namibia and Mozambique clash and, in a three-team pool, there is little margin for error.

They have not met in the competition in recent times, so there is little history to call on between the sides. The same goes for Namibia against Madagascar, and Madagascar versus Mozambique, so this is a really rare match-up in the competition.

Mozambique have reached the semi-finals in the last two editions so are possibly favourites, while Namibia were in the last four in 2022. Madagascar have never been past the group stages so may see this as a big chance.