COSAFA Cup

Organising body	COSAFA
Founded	1997
Region	Southern Africa
Number of teams	14
Current champions	Zambia (6th title)
Most successful team(s)	Zambia  Zimbabwe (6 titles each)
Website	cosafa.com
2022 COSAFA Cup

COSAFA

The COSAFA Cup or COSAFA Senior Challenge Cup is an annual tournament for teams from Southern Africa organized by Council of Southern Africa Football Associations (COSAFA), inaugurated after the ban against the Republic of South Africa had been lifted and the African Cup of Nations had been staged there in 1996.

History

The following teams have participated in the tournament in the past: Angola, Botswana, Comoros, Eswatini (Swaziland), Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Additionally, seven non-COSAFA members have competed: Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Senegal. Zimbabwe and Zambia have won the most titles with six wins, followed by South Africa with five wins. Zambia has been the most prolific side in the competition failing to reach the top 4 only four times since the tournament's inception. The first editions of the competition were a knockout tournament staged over several months. As the competition grew, it transformed into a series of mini-tournaments.^[1]

The 2010 COSAFA Senior Challenge was to be the 14th edition of the football tournament that involves teams from Southern Africa. In July 2010 it was confirmed that Angola would host the competition.^[2] The 2010 edition of the competition was cancelled in October, 2010.^[3] COSAFA stated that the Angolan authorities did not give enough guarantees to host the tournament.

Results

Year	Host		Final				Third Place Match
			Winner	Score	Runner-up		3rd Place	Score	4th Place
1997 Details	Home/away		Zambia	n/a	Namibia		Mozambique	n/a	Tanzania
1998 Details	Home/away		Zambia	n/a	Zimbabwe		Angola	n/a	Namibia
1999 Details	Home/away		Angola	1–0 1–1	Namibia		Swaziland and  Zambia
2000 Details	Home/away		Zimbabwe	3–0 3–0	Lesotho		South Africa and  Angola
2001 Details	Home/away		Angola	0–0 1–0	Zimbabwe		Malawi	2–1	Zambia
2002 Details	Home/away		South Africa	3–1 1–0	Malawi		Swaziland and  Zambia
2003 Details	Home/away		Zimbabwe	2–1 2–0	Malawi		Zambia and  Swaziland
2004 Details	Various hosts		Angola	0–0 (5–4 pen.)	Zambia		Mozambique and  Zimbabwe
2005 Details	Mauritius  Namibia  South Africa  Zambia		Zimbabwe	1–0	Zambia		South Africa and  Angola
2006 Details	Various hosts		Zambia	2–0	Angola		Botswana and  Zimbabwe
2007 Details	Botswana  Mozambique  South Africa  Swaziland		South Africa	0–0 (4–3 pen.)	Zambia		Botswana and  Mozambique
2008 Details	South Africa		South Africa	2–1	Mozambique		Zambia	2–0	Madagascar
2009 Details	Zimbabwe		Zimbabwe	3–1	Zambia		Mozambique	1–0	South Africa
2010	Angola		Cancelled[4]				Cancelled
2013 Details	Zambia		Zambia	2–0	Zimbabwe		South Africa	2–1	Lesotho
2015 Details	South Africa		Namibia	2–0	Mozambique		Madagascar	2–1	Botswana
2016 Details	Namibia		South Africa	3–2	Botswana		Swaziland	1–0	DR Congo
2017 Details	South Africa		Zimbabwe	3–1	Zambia		Tanzania	0–0 (4–2 pen.)	Lesotho
2018 Details	South Africa		Zimbabwe	4–2 (a.e.t.)	Zambia		Lesotho	1–0	Madagascar
2019 Details	South Africa		Zambia	1–0	Botswana		Zimbabwe	2–2 (5–4 pen.)	Lesotho
2021 Details	South Africa		South Africa	0–0 (a.e.t.) (5–4 pen.)	Senegal		Eswatini	1–1 (a.e.t.) (4–2 pen.)	Mozambique
2022 Details	South Africa		Zambia	1–0 (a.e.t.)	Namibia		Senegal	1–1 (a.e.t.) (4–2 pen.)	Mozambique

^n/a A round-robin tournament determined the final standings.

Teams reaching the top four

As of 2022^[update]

Team	Winners	Runners-up	Third Place	Fourth Place	Semi-finalists	Top 4 Finishes
Zambia	6 (1997, 1998, 2006, 2013, 2019, 2022)	6 (2004, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2017, 2018)	1 (2008)	1 (2001)	3 (1999, 2002, 2003)	17
Zimbabwe	6 (2000, 2003, 2005, 2009, 2017, 2018)	3 (1998, 2001, 2013)	1 (2019)		2 (2004, 2006)	12
South Africa	5 (2002, 2007, 2008, 2016, 2021)		1 (2013)	1 (2009)	2 (2000, 2005)	9
Angola	3 (1999, 2001, 2004)	1 (2006)	1 (1998)		2 (2000, 2005)	7
Namibia	1 (2015)	3 (1997, 1999, 2022)		1 (1998)		5
Mozambique		2 (2008, 2015)	2 (1997, 2009)	2 (2021, 2022)	2 (2004, 2007)	8
Malawi		2 (2002, 2003)	1 (2001)			3
Botswana		2 (2016, 2019)		1 (2015)	2 (2006, 2007)	5
Lesotho		1 (2000)	1 (2018)	3 (2013, 2017, 2019)		5
Senegal		1 (2021)	1 (2022)			2
Eswatini[a]			2 (2016, 2021)		3 (1999, 2002, 2003)	5
Madagascar			1 (2015)	2 (2008, 2018)		3
Tanzania			1 (2017)	1 (1997)		2
DR Congo				1 (2016)		1

Participating nations

Legend

Team	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	20102	2013	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2021	2022	Total
Angola	–	3rd	1st	SF	1st	QF	1R	1st	SF	2nd	1R	QF	QF	x	QF	–	GS	GS	GS	––1	–	GS	17
Botswana	1R	1R	2R	1R	1R	1R	QF	QF	1R	SF	SF	QF	QF	x	GS	4th	2nd	QF	QF	2nd	GS	QF	21
Comoros	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	GS	GS	x	–	–	–	–	GS	QF	––1	GS	5
Eswatini[a]	1R	1R	SF	QF	QF	SF	SF	QF	1R	1R	1R	GS	GS	x	GS	GS	3rd	QF	QF	GS	3rd	QF	21
Lesotho	1R	1R	QF	2nd	QF	1R	1R	1R	1R	1R	1R	GS	GS	x	4th	GS	QF	4th	3rd	4th	GS	GS	21
Madagascar	–	–	–	––	–	QF	QF	1R	1R	1R	1R	4th	––1	x	–	3rd	GS	GS	4th	–	––1	QF	12
Malawi	5th	1R	2R	QF	SF	2nd	2nd	QF	1R	1R	1R	GS	QF	x	QF	QF	GS	GS	GS	QF	GS	GS	21
Mauritius	–	–	–	1R	QF	1R	1R	QF	1R	1R	1R	GS	GS	x	GS	GS	GS	GS	GS	GS	–	GS	17
Mozambique	3rd	5th	QF	1R	1R	QF	QF	SF	1R	1R	SF	2nd	3rd	x	QF	2nd	QF	GS	GS	GS	4th	4th	21
Namibia	2nd	4th	2nd	QF	1R	1R	1R	1R	1R	1R	1R	QF	QF	x	QF	1st	QF	QF	QF	GS	GS	2nd	21
Seychelles	–	–	–	––	–	–	–	–	1R	1R	1R	GS	GS	x	GS	GS	GS	GS	GS	GS	–	GS	12
South Africa	–	1R	QF	SF	QF	1st	QF	1R	SF	1R	1st	1st	4th	x	3rd	QF	1st	QF	QF	QF	1st	QF	20
Zambia	1st	1st	SF	QF	SF	SF	SF	2nd	2nd	1st	2nd	3rd	2nd	x	1st	QF	QF	2nd	2nd	1st	GS	1st	21
Zimbabwe	1R	2nd	QF	1st	2nd	QF	1st	SF	1st	SF	1R	QF	1st	x	2nd	GS	GS	1st	1st	3rd	GS	–	20
Guest Nations
DR Congo*	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	4th	–	–	–	–	–	1
Equatorial Guinea*	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	––1	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	0
Ghana*	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	QF	–	–	–	–	–	–	1
Kenya*	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	GS	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	1
Senegal*	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	2nd	3rd	2
Tanzania*	4th	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	––1	GS	–	3rd	–	–	–	–	3
Uganda*	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	QF	–	–	1
Total	9	10	10	11	11	12	12	12	13	13	13	14	13	0 (14)	13	14	14	14	14	13	10	14

^*D.R. Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania,Uganda and Senegal are not COSAFA members, but have been invited to participate in the past.
¹ Withdrew from tournament.
² Tournament not played.

General statistics

All stats correct as of the 2022 COSAFA Cup. COSAFA Cup invitees are not included in the table.

Rank	Team	Part	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	Dif	Pts
1	Zambia	21	63	32	22	10	93	48	45	117
2	Zimbabwe	20	59	34	17	8	100	49	51	113
3	South Africa	20	55	30	19	6	77	29	48	109
4	Namibia	21	59	23	17	19	76	62	14	86
5	Mozambique	21	61	19	15	24	59	70	-11	75
6	Eswatini[a]	21	53	20	16	17	65	57	8	73
7	Angola	17	43	18	15	12	47	37	10	68
8	Malawi	21	59	16	20	23	61	71	-10	68
9	Botswana	21	51	15	17	19	52	50	2	62
10	Lesotho	21	52	13	16	23	49	-5	51	0
11	Madagascar	12	36	14	8	14	39	38	1	50
12	Mauritius	17	37	7	8	22	24	54	-30	27
13	Comoros	5	16	3	3	8	11	26	-15	12
14	Seychelles	12	19	1	6	24	17	55	-38	9

Notes

Top scorers

Peter Ndlovu of Zimbabwe and Manuel 'Tico-Tico' Bucuane of Mozambique are all-time top goalscorers in the tournament with ten goals each. In 2021 Felix Badenhorst of Eswatini moved into second position with nine goals.^[5]

Year	Player	Goals
1998	Tauya Mrewa Peter Ndlovu Shepherd Muradzikwa Benjamin Nkonjera	2
1999	Betinho	3
2000	Luke Petros Delron Buckley	2
2001	18 players tied	1
2002	Mfanzile Dlamini Rotson Kilambe Teboho Mokoena Siza Dlamini Patrick Mayo	2
2003	Peter Ndlovu Noel Mwandila Russel Mwafulirwa	2
2004	Peter Ndlovu	3
2005	Collins Mbesuma	4
2006	Fabrice Akwa	3
2007	Paulin Voavy	3
2008	Phillip Zialor	4
2009	Cuthbert Malajila	4
2013	Jerome Ramatlhakwane	4
2015	Sarivahy Vombola	5
2016	Felix Badenhorst	5
2017	Ovidy Karuru	6
2018	Onkabetse Makgantai	5
2019	Gabadinho Mhango Gerald Phiri Jr. Ashley Nazira	3
2021	Sepana Letsoalo	4
2022	Sabelo Ndzinisa	3