Botswana seek to turn silver into gold
Botswana have been regular participants at Women’s Under-20 level and were finalists at the 2018 Region 5 Games in Gaborone, where they lost 1-0 in the decider to South Africa.
They will be hoping to go one better than that when they compete at this year’s Region 5 Games in Windhoek, Namibia from July 4-13.
It will be a tough assignment for the side though as they face hosts Namibia in Group A along with Malawi and Zimbabwe, three teams who have a strong foundation of women’s football in their countries.
But so do Botswana, having qualified previously for the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations and knocked powerhouse South Africa out of the qualifiers for the 2020 Olympic Games.
The focus now will be on their Under-20 side and they do have some pedigree at this age-group level.
Botswana also won silver at the 2014 Region 5 Games, which featured only four sides and was played in a round-robin format, but did not appear two years later in Luanda.
They exited in the first round of the inaugural 2019 COSAFA Under-20 Women’s Championship, despite a 3-0 win over Eswatini in their final group game. Defeats to eventual winners Tanzania (0-2) and finalists Zambia (1-4) put them on the back foot in a tough pool.
Botswana have entered each of the last nine CAF qualifiers for the FIFA Under-20 Women’s World Cup but have not managed to make significant progress.
They have endured first round exits to Ghana (4-10 on aggregate), Namibia (on pens after 3-3 draw), South Africa (2-7 in 2012 and 2014; 1-9 in 2015), and a walkover loss to Kenya in 2018.
They made the third round in the 2022 qualifiers but lost 8-2 on aggregate to Ethiopia, and in 2024 preliminaries lost 6-1 on aggregate to Cameroon in the second round.
They will go again when they face COSAFA rivals Mozambique in the first round of the 2026 qualifiers in September.
This tournament will provide vital preparations for those matches and the rest of the campaign if they advance.
A lot of effort has been made to improve women’s football in the country and these Region 5 Games gives them a chance to showcase their rise.
