2024 COSAFA U-20 Cup

The 2024 COSAFA U-20 Cup was the 29th edition of the COSAFA U-20 Challenge Cup, an international youth football tournament open to national associations of the COSAFA region. It took place between 26 September and 5 October 2024 in Mozambique. This competition served as the COSAFA qualifiers for the 2025 U-20 Africa Cup of Nations.

2024 COSAFA Under-20 Cup

Tournament details
Host country	Mozambique
City	Matola
Dates	26 September–5 October
Teams	12 (from 1 sub-confederation)
Venue(s)	Estádio da Matola
Final positions
Champions	South Africa (9th title)
Runners-up	Zambia
Tournament statistics
Matches played	18
Goals scored	55 (3.06 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Lee Jody Ahshene (4 goals)
Best player(s)	Shandre Campbell
Best goalkeeper	Fletcher Smythe-Lowe
Fair play award	Zambia
← 2022 2025 →

South Africa defeated defending champions Zambia 2-0 in the final. Both finalists qualified for the 2025 U-20 Africa Cup of Nations.^[1][2] South Africa scored 16 goals in the five matches played, with zero goals conceded against them.

Participating teams

The following twelve teams contested the tournament.

Team	Appearances	Previous best performance
Angola	29th	Runner-up (2000, 2001, 2002, 2011)
Botswana	22nd	3rd Place (2009, 2011)
Comoros	5th	Group stage (2013, 2016, 2019, 2020)
Eswatini	29th	Champion (2020)
Lesotho	29th	Runner-up (1990, 2005, 2017)
Malawi	20th	4th Place (1986, 2000, 2006, 2011)
Mozambique	29th	Champion (2020)
Namibia	29th	Champion (2020)
South Africa	29th	Champion (2000, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2013, 2017, 2018)
Zambia	29th	Champion (1983, 1986, 1993, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2003, 2010, 2011, 2016, 2019, 2022)

Venues

Match officials

Draw

The draw was held on 5 September 2024 at 11:00 CET (UTC+2) at Maputo.The 12 teams were drawn into three groups of four teams, with hosts Mozambique seeded in Group A (position A1), the defending champions Zambia seeded in Group B (position B1) and South Africa seeded in Group C (position C1). The remaining 9 teams were allocated to two pots based on the results of the previous tournament edition and were drawn to the remaining positions.^[3]

Seeded	Pot 1	Pot 2
Mozambique (hosts)  Zambia  South Africa	Angola  Malawi  Eswatini	Botswana  Comoros  Lesotho  Namibia  Madagascar  Zimbabwe

Group stage

All times are local, CAT (UTC+2).

The group stage were played in 3 groups as a round-robin, where the winners and the best runner-up advanced to the semi-finals. Because of Madagascar's withdrawal, points gained against the team finishing last in Groups A and C were not included in the calculation of the best runner-up.

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Zimbabwe	3	2	1	0	5	1	+4	7	Semi-finals
2	Botswana	3	1	2	0	3	2	+1	5
3	Eswatini	3	1	1	1	5	7	−2	4
4	Mozambique (H)	3	0	0	3	5	8	−3	0

Source: COSAFA
(H) Hosts

26 September 2024 (2024-09-26)

12:00

Zimbabwe	1–1	Botswana
Moyo 30'	Report	Kaku 74'

Estádio da Matola, Matola

26 September 2024 (2024-09-26)

15:00

Mozambique	4–5	Eswatini
Neves 20', 62' Jose 59' (pen.) Seia 90+5'	Report	Dube 36' Mdluli 38', 53' Mazibuko 47' Gwebu 77'

Estádio da Matola, Matola

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28 September 2024 (2024-09-28)

12:00

Eswatini	0–3	Zimbabwe
	Report	Cherera 26' Muzenda 50' (pen.) Ndhlovu 86'

Estádio da Matola Annex, Matola

28 September 2024 (2024-09-28)

15:00

Mozambique	1–2	Botswana
Neves 42'	Report	Japane 68' Ratshukudu 77' (pen.)

Estádio da Matola Annex, Matola

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30 September 2024 (2024-09-30)

15:00

Eswatini	0–0	Botswana
	Report

Estádio da Matola Annex, Matola

30 September 2024 (2024-09-30)

15:00

Mozambique	0–1	Zimbabwe
	Report	Moyo 47'

Estádio da Matola, Matola

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Angola	2	2	0	0	4	1	+3	6	Semi-finals
2	Zambia	2	1	0	1	3	4	−1	3
3	Namibia	2	0	0	2	1	3	−2	0
4	Madagascar	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Withdrew

Source: COSAFA

 Madagascar was also drawn into this group but withdrew before playing.^[4]

27 September 2024 (2024-09-27)

15:00

Zambia	1–3	Angola
Mwale 72'	Report	Haidara 28' Pedro 31' Chanda 90+3' (o.g.)

Estádio da Matola, Matola

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29 September 2024 (2024-09-29)

15:00

Angola	1–0	Namibia
Quissequel 89'	Report

Estádio da Matola Annex, Matola

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1 October 2024 (2024-10-01)

12:00

Zambia	2–1	Namibia
Mwanza 37' Simukonda 62'	Report	Goagoseb 65'

Estádio da Matola, Matola

Group C

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	South Africa	3	3	0	0	13	0	+13	9	Semi-finals
2	Comoros	3	1	0	2	2	4	−2	3
3	Malawi	3	1	0	2	4	9	−5	3
4	Lesotho	3	1	0	2	3	9	−6	3

Source: COSAFA

27 September 2024 (2024-09-27)

12:00

Comoros	1–0	Lesotho
Bacar 81'	Report

Estádio da Matola Annex, Matola

27 September 2024 (2024-09-27)

15:00

South Africa	5–0	Malawi
April 36', 45' Ahshene 49' Lethlaku 68' Mbokazi 74'	Report

Estádio da Matola Annex, Matola

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29 September 2024 (2024-09-29)

12:00

Malawi	2–1	Comoros
Kaduya 11', 79'	Report	Ahamada 27'

Estádio da Matola, Matola

29 September 2024 (2024-09-29)

15:00

South Africa	6–0	Lesotho
Ahshene 17' Campbell 25', 75' Mofoko 42' (o.g.) Lethlaku 50' Timba 56'	Report

Estádio da Matola, Matola

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1 October 2024 (2024-10-01)

15:00

Malawi	2–3	Lesotho
Masinja 64' Mhango 85' (pen.)	Report	Maile 5' (pen.) 58' Nthaka 43'

Estádio da Matola Annex, Matola

1 October 2024 (2024-10-01)

15:00

Comoros	0–2	South Africa
	Report	Mabena 46' Kgosana 83'

Estádio da Matola, Matola

Ranking of second-placed teams

Pos	Grp	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	B	Zambia	2	1	0	1	3	4	−1	3	Semi-finals
2	A	Botswana	2	0	2	0	1	1	0	2
3	C	Comoros	2	0	0	2	1	4	−3	0

Source: COSAFA
Rules for classification: Group tiebreakers

Knockout stage

Bracket

	Semi-finals				Final
	3 October - Matola
	Angola	0
					5 October - Matola
	South Africa	1
					South Africa	2
	3 October - Matola
					Zambia	0
	Zimbabwe	2 (5)
	Zambia (p)	2 (6)

Semi-finals

3 October 2024 (2024-10-03)

12:00

Angola	0–1	South Africa
		Ahshene 25'

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3 October 2024 (2024-10-03)

15:00

Zimbabwe	2–2	Zambia
Ndhlovu 62', 75'		Mwale 25' Simukonda 25'
Penalties
	5–6

Final

5 October 2024 (2024-10-05)

14:00

South Africa	2–0	Zambia
Campbell 5' Ahshene 45'

Goalscorers

There were 55 goals scored in 18 matches, for an average of 3.06 goals per match.

4 goals

• Lee Jody Ahshene

3 goals

• Kelvio Neves
• Shandre Campbell
• Prince Ndhlovu

2 goals

• Alakhe Mdluli
• Paseka Maile
• Adiel Kaduya
• Shakeel April
• Kutlwana Lethlaku
• Mumba Mwale
• David Simukonda
• Enock Moyo

1 goal

• Amado Haidara
• Simão Pedro
• Filipe Quissequel
• Gaone Japane
• Losika Ratshukudu
• Philip Kaku
• Falahidine Ahamada
• Malaik Bacar
• Malwande Gwebu
• Njongo Mazibuko
• Phiwayinkhosi Dube
• Chewane Ntakha
• Fernando Jose
• Yuran Seia
• Mwisho Mhango
• Hermas Masinja
• Engilio Goagoseb
• Ofentse Kgosana
• Siyabonga Mabena
• Mbekezeli Mbokazi
• Sifiso Timba
• Tanaka Cherera
• Nisbet Muzenda
• Emmanuel Mwanza

1 own goal

• Leluma Mofoko (Against South Africa)
• Fostino Chanda (Against Angola)

See also

• 2024 COSAFA Under-17 Championship