The next 10 days will be a festival of youth football in Johannesburg as COSAFA hosts two separate tournaments for Boys and Girls that will showcase the talent in Southern Africa and in the one instance provide a vital chance to take on the rest of the continent.
The TotalEnergies U-17 Africa Cup of Nations 2025 | COSAFA Qualifier for Boys and COSAFA Under-17 Girls’ Championship will be played simultaneously from December 4-13, with 42 games in 10 days across the two competitions.
The Boys event will see the two finalists qualify for the TotalEnergies U-17 Africa Cup of Nations 2025 that is set to be hosted in Ivory Coast next year, providing a huge carrot for the competing teams over and above the honour of being crowned regional champions.
You can watch the entire competition streamed LIVE on FIFA+, wherever you are in the world.
Lesotho and Angola will play the opening fixture on Wednesday when they clash at the University of Johannesburg’s (UJ) Soweto Campus Stadium at 12h00 CAT (10h00 GMT).
That will be followed by a second Group A fixture between Mozambique and Malawi at 15h00.
There will be four games on Thursday as both Groups B and C kick-off concurrently.
Zimbabwe face Eswatini at 12h00 at the UJ AW Muller Stadium in a Group B game, while at the same time Comoros take on Mauritius in a battle of the islanders at UJ Soweto Campus Stadium in Group C.
Zambia face Namibia at 15h00 at UJ AW Muller in Group B, while hosts South Africa clash with Botswana at the same time at UJ Soweto Campus.
The COSAFA Under-17 Girls’ Championship gives the teams the opportunity to fine-tune for the qualifiers for the 2025 FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup that is scheduled to be played in Morocco from 17 October – 8 November next year.
A record 12 teams will take part in what is the fifth staging of this vital competition that serves as a chance for young players to test their skills against their peers from around the region and for most a first taste of international football.
It also gets under way on Wednesday as Eswatini take on Lesotho at 11h00 at the UJ AW Muller Stadium in a Group A clash. Later that same day Mozambique meet Comoros at 14h00 in the other match in the pool.
Hosts South Africa welcome Namibia in their opening Group B game on Thursday that will be played at the UJ B Soweto Stadium at 12h30.
Before that Namibia take on Madagascar at 09h30 at the same venue, while the final game of the day will be a Group C clash between Zimbabwe and Mauritius, also at UJ B Soweto Stadium.
The action moves to the UJ AW Muller Stadium on Friday as the second game in Group C is played between Zambia and Botswana at 11h00.
You can view the full COSAFA Under-17 Girls’ Championship fixture list here.
