The HOLLYWOODBETS COSAFA Women’s Championship will be staged in Gqeberha, South Africa from October 22-November 2.
It will feature a record 14 teams, making it the largest women’s international competition on the African continent and we bring you profiles of three of those sides, Eswatini, Lesotho and Madagascar.

 

ESWATINI
Best finish: Group Stages (2002, 2006, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023)
FIFA Ranking: 182
CAF Ranking: 42
Last five tournaments:
2019 – Group Stage
2020 – Group Stage
2021 – Group Stage
2022 – Group Stage
2023 – Group Stage

Eswatini featured in the early days of the HOLLYWOODBETS COSAFA Women’s Championship and after a brief hiatus have now returned to play in the last seven instalments of the regional showpiece competition.

They are awaiting their first qualification for the knockout stages but will hope to make steady progress towards that and could perhaps spring a surprise this year.

Eswatini claimed a 3-0 win over Botswana in their second match in 2002, their first win on their maiden appearance, but also lost out to Mozambique (2-0) and South Africa (4-0) to end third in their pool.

They were back at the finals in 2006, but this time lost to Namibia (6-0) and Zambia (7-0) in what was a difficult campaign.

The country skipped the 2011 tournament but returned for the 2017 finals in Zimbabwe, where a 3-0 win over Mauritius was followed by a 2-2 draw with Mozambique. They were denied a first ever place in the semifinals though after a 1-0 loss to East Africa guest nation Kenya.

The following year proved a harsher experience as they lost all three games, going down to East African guests Uganda (4-3), Zimbabwe (3-0) and Namibia (4-1) to finish bottom of the pool.

The side were much improved in 2019 as they won two of their three games, but still narrowly missed out on the semifinals.

A 3-1 victory over Mozambique was followed by a thumping 4-0 success over Angola. But they came unstuck against Zimbabwe, going down 7-0 in their final pool match to bow out.

They could not match that in 2020 having been drawn in a tough first round pool, where they beat Comoros Islands 4-2, but then lost to South Africa (5-0) and Angola (4-3).

It was a tale of woe for the side in 2021 as they lost all three games and conceded 11 goals in the process. A 5-0 loss to Zambia was followed by a 5-1 defeat to Uganda, and then a 1-0 defeat at the hands of Namibia.

And it was same again in 2022 as defeats to Lesotho (3-0), Namibia (5-1) and Zambia (2-0) meant another first round exit, while in 2023 they beat Madagascar 2-1 in their opener but lost to Malawi (8-0) and South Africa (3-0) in a tough pool.

 

 

LESOTHO
Best finish: Group Stages (2002, 2006, 2008, 2011, 2017, 2018, 2020, 2022, 2023)
FIFA Ranking: 176
CAF Ranking: 41
Last five tournaments:
2019 – Did not enter
2020 – Group Stage
2021 – Did not enter
2022 – Group Stage
2023 – Group Stage

Lesotho have been somewhat regular competitors at the HOLLYWOODBETS COSAFA Women’s Championships since the first tournament played in 2002, though they did not take part in 2019 or 2021.

They did not get off to the best of starts in their maiden competition in 2002 with a 15-0 defeat in their opener to hosts Zimbabwe, which was followed by a 3-0 loss to Malawi and a 3-1 defeat to Zambia.

It did not get much better in 2006 as they lost 9-0 to South Africa and 3-0 to Malawi in a three-team group.

They were close to semifinal qualification in 2011 when they beat Mozambique 3-2 but lost to Malawi in their play-off decider.

In 2017 they claimed a fine 2-1 win over Namibia in pool play, but lost to South Africa and Botswana, both by 3-0 scorelines.

They returned in 2018, but lost all three matches, going down to Zambia (2-0), Mozambique (2-1) and Central African guest nation Cameroon (6-0) to finish bottom of their pool.

After skipping 2019, the side was back in action in 2020 but again lost both their matches in a three-team pool as they went down 8-0 to Zambia and 9-0 to Malawi.

They returned in 2022 after skipping a year and despite winning their first game 3-0 against Eswatini, went on to lose the next two to Zambia (7-0) and Namibia (2-0).

They lost all three games in 2023 to Zimbabwe (1-0), Botswana (3-0) and Namibia (2-0).

Lesotho played their first international in 1998 away in Mozambique and lost 3-0, and have yet to qualify for the African Women’s Cup of Nations.

Their most recent attempt to make the finals was in 2018 when they defeated Eswatini 3-1 on aggregate in the first round of qualifying, but then lost 7-0 on aggregate to South Africa in the next stage.

They did not enter the qualifiers for the 2022 tournament in what has been a fallow period for the women’s team, but they are back in competition and will be full of hope that there are brighter days ahead.

 

 

MADAGASCAR
Best finish: Group Stages (2017, 2018, 2019, 2023)
FIFA Ranking: 190
CAF Ranking: 44
Last five tournaments:
2019 – Group Stage
2020 – Did not enter
2021 – Did not enter
2022 – Did not enter
2023 – Group Stage

Madagascar return to the HOLLYWOODBETS COSAFA Women’s Championship for the second year in a row having missed the previous three tournaments.

The COVID-19 pandemic had a huge impact on women’s football in the country, with the national team becoming inactive to the point where they no longer had a FIFA ranking, though they are now back on ‘the board’.

Their return to the COSAFA event is a new dawn and a chance for the team to get back on track and rebuild what had been a promising foray into the women’s game.

They have not entered any international competitions in the interleading years, but are now back and hopeful of leaving their mark.

They debuted in the COSAFA Women’s Championship in Zimbabwe in 2017, which proved a tough introduction. They lost 4-0 to the hosts, before a 6-3 defeat to Malawi and a 7-1 loss to Zambia.

They returned the following year and this time managed a draw in a vastly improved display that showed their rapid progression.

They lost 2-1 to eventual winners South Africa and 2-0 to Malawi, but picked up a first point with a 0-0 draw against Botswana.

They went one better with a maiden win in 2019, defeating Comoros Islands 5-1, but also lost to Malawi (2-0) and South Africa (3-0).

After missing three years of competition, their return in 2023 proved tough as they lost all three games to Eswatini (2-1), South Africa (3-1) and Malawi (3-1), but can say they were competitive in a very tough pool that included the eventual winners.

That shows their rich potential and hopefully with a few years of sustained competition they can realise that.