COSAFA sides will be involved in the preliminary round qualifiers for the 2016 African Nations Championship this weekend.

The competition, which is open only to players who ply their trade in their own domestic league, will be staged in Rwanda from January 16 to February 7 next year.

Twelve COSAFA sides enter qualifying at this stage, including a tasty tie between COSAFA Cup champions Namibia and Zambia, with the first leg to be played in Windhoek.

Swaziland, fresh from their excellent 2-1 away win over Guinea in the African Nations Cup qualifiers last weekend, host Angola in another tie that looks as though it could be a thriller.

South Africa entertain the island nation of Mauritius in Johannesburg on Saturday, while Zimbabwe are at home first to Comoros islands.

Lesotho and Botswana do battle in Maseru in the first leg of their tie, while Mozambique entertain Seychelles in their preliminary round game.

The final round of qualifiers to decide the three teams from the COSAFA region that will book their place in Rwanda will be decided in October.