Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa HOLLYWOODBETS COSAFA Women’s Championship profiles
The HOLLYWOODBETS COSAFA Women’s Championship 2025 will be staged in Polokwane, South Africa from February 18-March 1, 2026. It will feature 11 teams and we bring you profiles of three of those sides, Mozambique, Namibia and South Africa.
MOZAMBIQUE
Best finish: Third (2023)
FIFA Ranking: 172
CAF Ranking: 37
Last five tournaments:
2020 – Did not enter
2021 – Group Stage
2022 – Group Stage
2023 – Third
2024 – Semifinals
Mozambique completed a best-ever showing at the HOLLYWOODBETS COSAFA Women’s Championship when they finished third in 2023, taking home the bronze medal.
That followed an unbeaten showing in 2022 that was unfortunately still not enough for a semi-final place, but it illustrated the great strides the team has made in the last few years.
Their run to the bronze medal in 2023 came as they finished runners-up in their pool but were the best of the second-placed sides with seven points. They drew 0-0 with Zambia, beat Comoros 3-1 and edged Angola 1-0.
That set up a semi-final with eventual champions Malawi that they lost 2-1, before the side defeated Zimbabwe 2-0 in the third-place play-off.
They reached the semi-finals again in 2024, topping their three-team pool with a win over Zimbabwe (1-0) and a draw with Lesotho (1-1), but they were edged on penalties by South Africa in the last four after the game finished 1-1.
In 2022, they defeated Mauritius 5-0 and followed that up with draws against Angola and South Africa, both by 1-1 scorelines. It was not enough to finish top of the pool and they were pipped to the best runners-up spot across the three groups.
Mozambique appeared at the very first COSAFA Women’s Championship in 2002 and excelled, reaching the semi-finals before they were handed an 11-1 defeat by hosts Zimbabwe in the knockout round.
They also competed in the regional showpiece finals in 2011 but managed just a single point in the pool stages.
They had mixed success in 2017, losing to East African guest nation Kenya (2-5), drawing with Eswatini (2-2) and beating Mauritius (3-0). The team beat Lesotho 2-1 at the championships in 2018, but also lost to Zambia (0-3) and Central African guest nation Cameroon (1-8) to bow out in the pool stages.
The side struggled in 2019, losing all three games to finish bottom of their pool. They were defeated 3-1 by Eswatini, before a 4-0 loss to Zimbabwe and a 3-1 reversal against Angola.
The team did not compete in 2020 due to challenges around the COVID-19 pandemic but returned a year later to take their place again.
They opened with a 2-2 draw against Angola, but then narrowly lost to eventual finalists Malawi 3-2 and were beaten 3-1 by South Africa.
Mozambique’s first-ever international was a 3-0 win over Lesotho in 1998, with their biggest victory a 9-0 defeat of Namibia in 2006.
NAMIBIA
Best finish: Second (2006)
FIFA Ranking: 124
CAF Ranking: 19
Last five tournaments:
2020 – Did not enter
2021 – Group Stage
2022 – Fourth
2023 – Group Stage
2024 – Group Stage
Namibia were semi-finalists in the HOLLYWOODBETS COSAFA Women’s Championship in 2022 but narrowly lost 1-0 to hosts South Africa, before a 2-1 defeat to Tanzania in the third-place play-off.
It was still their best showing for many years as they finished runners-up in their pool behind Zambia, with two wins against Eswatini (5-1) and Lesotho (2-0).
In their first appearance in 2006, they claimed an excellent 2-2 draw with Zambia and then thumped Eswatini 6-0 in the pool stages, enough to see them into the semi-finals as runners-up in their group.
They gained revenge over Zambia with a 5-4 penalty shoot-out victory after a 1-1 draw, but lost in the final to South Africa when they went down 3-1. That remains their best finish.
They reached the semi-finals again two years later, but this time were ousted at that stage by South Africa, ironically by the same scoreline.
They had less success in 2017, beating Botswana 4-0 in their opener, but then losing 2-1 to Lesotho and once again suffering a 3-1 loss to South Africa to finish bottom of their pool.
The following year they beat Eswatini 4-1, but a defeat to Zimbabwe (0-1) and a draw with East African guest nation Uganda (0-1) meant they did not progress to the knockout stages.
They were back again in 2019, but won only one of their three games, an 8-0 hammering of Mauritius. Before that they lost to Botswana (0-1) and Zambia (2-3).
After missing 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, they took four points in 2021, drawing with a strong Uganda team 0-0 in their opener, before a 3-0 loss to Zambia and a 1-0 win over Eswatini.
Their semi-final showing in 2022 was followed by a group-stage exit in 2023 as they took four points from a win over Lesotho (2-0), a draw with Botswana (1-1) and a loss to Zimbabwe (0-2).
Namibia were unlucky not to advance from their group in 2024, earning six points after wins over Seychelles (7-0) and Eswatini (2-0), but finishing behind pool winners South Africa.
SOUTH AFRICA
Best finish: Winners (2002, 2006, 2008, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020)
FIFA Ranking: 55
CAF Ranking: 2
Last five tournaments:
2020 – Winners
2021 – Fourth
2022 – Runners-Up
2023 – Group Stages
2019 – Runners-Up
South Africa are record seven-time winners of the HOLLYWOODBETS COSAFA Women’s Championship but will be looking to regain the title after last lifting the trophy in 2020.
Since that triumph, they have gone on to be crowned 2022 TotalEnergies CAF Women’s Africa Cup of Nations champions and excelled at the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup, in what has been a golden period for the team.
They will again be using this regional championship to expand their playing pool, though, as they look to the stars of tomorrow with less familiar names.
South Africa have a storied history in the COSAFA Women’s Championship as comfortably the most successful side in the competition.
They stormed to the inaugural 2002 regional title, beating Zimbabwe 2-1 in the final as they won all five of their games, scoring 36 goals in the process. That included huge victories over Botswana (14-0) and Mozambique (13-0) in the pool stages.
It was more of the same in 2006 as they won both group-stage games against Lesotho (9-0) and Malawi (3-0), before a 4-1 victory over Zimbabwe in the semi-finals. They beat Namibia 3-1 in the final to pick up gold.
A clash of fixtures meant they sent an Under-20 side to the 2008 championships, but still won all of their games, including a 3-1 victory over hosts Angola in the final.
Their run was ended by hosts Zimbabwe in the decider in 2011, leaving them with a record of 26 wins from 29 games in the COSAFA Women’s Championships at that point.
They regained their title in 2017 as wins over Lesotho (3-0) and Namibia (3-1) saw them into the knockout stages, where they came from 3-0 down with 13 minutes remaining to draw 3-3 with Zambia and win on penalties. That set up a final with Zimbabwe, where South Africa ran out 2-1 winners.
They had to do it the hard way again in 2018 as wins over Madagascar (2-1), Botswana (1-0) and Malawi (6-0) in the pool stages were followed by a 2-0 success over East African guest nation Uganda in the semi-finals and a 2-1 victory over Central African guests Cameroon in the decider.
A much-changed side took part in 2019 but still snatched the trophy as a tournament-record 17-0 win over Comoros Islands was followed by further pool wins over Malawi (3-1) and Madagascar (3-0).
They defeated old enemy Zimbabwe 3-1 in the semi-finals, before edging Zambia 1-0 in the decider.
They had a much-changed squad in 2020 but still breezed through their pool with three wins over Angola (2-0), Eswatini (5-0) and Comoros Islands (7-0), which set up a semi-final with Malawi that was won 6-2 after a goalless first half.
They took on Botswana in the final and got some revenge for having been knocked out of the 2020 Olympic Games qualifiers by The Mares as South Africa won 2-1 at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium.
The 2021 competition proved a major disappointment as the side beat Malawi in the pool stages and topped their pool, but then lost to the SheFlames 3-2 in the semi-finals in a shock result.
They played Zambia in the bronze-medal match but were defeated on post-match penalties when the game finished 1-1.
The team were hoping for better in 2022 and did return to the final, but lost 1-0 to Zambia in extra-time of the decider, and went out in the group stages for the first time in 2023 despite winning two of their three games, losing 4-3 to eventual winners Malawi.
They reached the final again in 2024 but were edged on penalties by champions Zambia after a 0-0 draw.
