Cosafa Cup called off

02 Oct, 2020 - 09:10 0 Views
Cosafa Cup called off Sue Destombes

The Sunday News

Mehluli Sibanda, Senior Sports Reporter

THIS year’s Cosafa’s Cup, which was scheduled for South Africa this month is not taking place, with the Council of Southern Africa Football Associations indicating that there is not enough time for it to go ahead.

With the South African Government recently announcing that it has re-opened borders to African countries and confirmed that international sporting events may take place, Cosafa said while that is great news, there is not sufficient time for the tournament to be held.

“Sadly, this news has come too late to allow for the Cosafa Cup, with too little preparation time available to utilise the October Fifa international window, and a packed international calendar to the end of the year with the resumption of the Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers in November,’’ said Cosafa.

Cosafa, in a statement released on Thursday said they have been busy behind the scenes to prepare for its events but remains dependent on the green light from governments across the region. They remain hopeful of hosting four of its six scheduled tournaments in 2020, a year that has seen the football calendar severely disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic.

The Cosafa Women’s Championship in South Africa’s Nelson Mandela Bay is now scheduled for 3-14 November, with a number of teams having already confirmed their interest in taking part, with a strong field likely to contain eight nations.

According to Cosafa, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Zambia, Comoros, Angola, Malawi, while Namibia as well as Eswatini are the teams that have confirmed their participation and are awaiting government approval to travel.

“East African nation Kenya have requested a guest place in the tournament, while Mauritius remain doubtful. Madagascar, Seychelles and Mozambique have declined, and Lesotho have yet to commit to taking part,’’ Cosafa said.

The Cosafa Women’s Under-17 Championship is also scheduled to take place in Nelson Mandela Bay concurrently with the senior tournament, but in a reduced format, most likely with four to six teams. East African nation Tanzania have expressed an interest in taking part.

What then remains for Cosafa are the two zonal qualifiers that provide Southern Africa’s entrants into the continental finals of the Under-17 and Under-20 Confederation of African Football (Caf) competitions to be played next year.

The Cosafa Men’s Under-17 Championship is set to take place in South Africa from 19-29 November, with the host city still to be determined. The two finalists of the competition will qualify for the continental finals in Morocco in July 2021.

The Cosafa Men’s Under-20 Championship will now no longer take place in Mauritius after the island nation withdrew from hosting due to current Covid-19 regulations and is now planned to also take place in South Africa on 3-13 December.

Twelve nations have confirmed their participation, though Seychelles and Madagascar, who will not take part in any Cosafa events in 2020, have declined the invitation. Mauritius have also yet to confirm if they will take part.

“A lot of work has gone on behind the scenes during the Covid-19 pandemic to try and realise our goals of hosting these events to continue our mandate of developing Southern African football on and off the pitch,” Cosafa general secretary Sue Destombes said.

Destombes stated that what they can guarantee is that health and safety set of rules will be in place with Cosafa looking to draw experiences from the South African Football Association, who managed to complete the 2019/20 season.

“But we are completely reliant on conditions being favourable and obviously that is out of our control. What we can promise is that health and safety protocols will be in place, as well as utilising practices from the experiences of the South African Football Association, who successfully completed their 2019-20 league season.”

Zimbabwe have the most Cosafa men’s titles with six, followed by Zambia with six.

@Mdawini_29

 

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