Botswana appeared in the inaugural COSAFA Women’s Under-17 Championship in 2019 and made it all the way to the bronze-medal match, where they lost out to Zambia.

It was still an excellent debut for the side and a platform to build on, though the COVID-19 pandemic means the side did not take part in the competition in 2020.

They have returned for the Girls’ football competition at the Region 5 Games Maseru 2020, where they will face Zimbabwe in the tournament opener in Dec. 1.

They meet Comoros (Dec. 4) and Zambia (Dec. 6) in what is a tough Group A, with the top two teams in each pool to advance to the semifinals.

The team excelled on debut two years ago as they claimed first round wins over Madagascar (6-0) and Seychelles (14-1) to show all their attacking threat.

They finished runner-up in their pool though following a 5-1 loss to hosts South Africa, which set up a semifinal clash against eventual winners Uganda.

The East Africans ran out 12-0 winners before Botswana lost 3-0 to Zambia in the third-place play-off.

Botswana entered the qualifiers for the 2008 FIFA Women’s Under-17 World Cup but withdrew before their tie with South Africa.

They entered again two years later, but 9-1 and 13-0 losses to South Africa meant a humbling 22-1 aggregate defeat.

That did not deter the side though and in 2012 they took on Zambia, putting on a better showing as they lost 5-1 and 2-0 in the respective legs.

They met Zambia a year later and this time went down 8-3 on aggregate after 5-2 and 3-1 losses, but again showed they were closing the gap.

That was proven again in the 2016 qualifiers as they were edged 3-2 on aggregate by Namibia after a 1-1 draw and a 2-1 defeat.

They finally made it past the first round in extraordinary fashion for the 2018 qualifiers. Trailing 5-2 from the first leg against Zambia, they roared back to win the second 4-0 and take the tie 6-5 on aggregate.

That set up a second round meeting with South Africa, where they again held their own, but lost 5-2 and 6-4 in the two matches.

They again advanced to the second round in the qualifiers for the 2020 competition, completing a comprehensive 7-0 victory on aggregate over Zimbabwe. They lost the first leg of their second round game 1-0 to Morocco, and then could not travel for the reverse due to COVID-19 and had to give up their place in the competition, though it was eventually cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

They will face COSAFA champions Tanzania in the first round of qualifiers for the 2022 FIFA Women’s Under-17 World Cup that is scheduled for India in October.

BOTSWANA’S COSAFA WOMEN’S UNDER-17 CHAMPIONSHIP RECORD
Tournament finishes:
2019 – Fourth
2020 – Did not enter

Match record:
P          W        D         L          GF        GA
5          2          0          3          21        21

Biggest victory: 14-1 vs Seychelles (Group Stage, 25/09/2019)
Biggest defeat: 0-12 vs Uganda (Semifinals, 27/09/2019)

ALL-TIME GOALSCORERS
6 goals – Bofelo Rantsho, Pearl Sikwane
2 – Yaone Modise, Christinah Monyatsi, Lorato Motlogelwa
1 – Tlhompho Gabana, Kaone Mbongwe, Serati Modisenyane