CAF African Schools Football Championship COSAFA Qualifier set for lift-off!

The CAF African Schools Football Championship | COSAFA Qualifiers, Zimbabwe 2023 gets under way at Gateway High School in Harare on Thursday, where the top young boys and girls in the Under-15 age-group will compete to be crowned champions of the region.

The 10-team competition will be a festival of schools football over three days, culminating in the finals of the Boys’ and Girls’ competitions on Saturday.

It is a welcome return for COSAFA to Zimbabwe, a nation that has successfully hosted several competitions in the past and has been a steady supplier of excellent young talent to the region.

Those wishing to support the teams are welcome to attend, with matches on four pitches starting at 09h00 on all three days.

Hosts Zimbabwe will take on Malawi and Botswana clash with Eswatini in the Group A openers in the Boys’ competition on Thursday, while at the same those nations will clash in the Girls’ tournament too. That theme or mirrored fixtures is carried on throughout the pool phase.

South Africa and Angola open their bid for glory in the Boys’ and Girls’ competitions with a Group B clash at 10h00, while Zambia and Namibia do likewise on another pitch at the same time.

There will be a total of 20 fixtures played on the opening day, with 20 more scheduled for Friday, when the group phase will come to a close.

The winners of each of the two pools in both the Boys’ and Girls’ competitions will then face each other in a final to decide a winner and who advances to the continental finals next year. The Girls’ decider will be on Saturday at 10h00, with the Boys’ at 12h00.

Before then, the runners’ up in each pool will contest for the bronze medal. The Girls’ playoff game is at 09h00 and the Boys’ at 11h00.

The Boys’ competition will be played on full size pitches with 11-a-side, while the Girls’ tournament is played on half-sized pitches and is 8-a-side. In both competitions it will be 20 minutes per half, with a 10-minute halftime break.

You can view the full fixture list right here.

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