East Africa side Tanzania will be coached by Bakari Shime at this year’s COSAFA Women’s Under-20 Championship as they seek to become the first ever guest nation to win a Southern African championship.

Cameroon came close to doing that last year when they reached the final of the COSAFA Women’s Championship, but lost 2-1 to South Africa in the decider.

Kenya also reached the final of the men’s COSAFA Under-20 Championship in 2013, but also lost to the South Africans.

The potential to make history will therefore be a major driver for Shime, who is also the coach of the senior women’s side, which narrowly lost out to DR Congo in the preliminaries for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games in April.

Women’s football is on the rise in Tanzania, though the country has attempted to qualify for the African Under-20 Cup of Nations for Women in the last three editions only.

In 2014 they defeated Mozambique 15-1 on aggregate in the first round, but lost 9-1 to South Africa in the next stage.

In 2015 they were beaten 4-0 by Zambia in the first stage, and in 2018 lost 9-0 to continental powerhouses Nigeria.

Tanzania have been drawn in Group A at the COSAFA Women’s Under-20 Championship and will face Botswana in their opener on August 2.

They will then face Eswatini two days later, before closing out their pool play with a clash against Zambia on August 6.

The top two teams in each pool advance to the semifinals.