05 Jun 2014

Botswana will host the Council of Southern Africa Football Associations (COSAFA) senior challenge in September.

The associations chief operations officer, Sue Destombes said now that the African Youth Games were over, preparations for the COSAFA games were underway.

“The local organising committee had its first meeting on June 3 in Gaborone, and we are also negotiating with several potential sponsors for the games,” she said. She appealed to local companies to seize the opportunity to sponsor the tournament.

Fourteen countries: Angola, Botswana, Ghana, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe will participate in the tournament.

Meanwhile, a press release from COSAFA stated that the 2014 edition will have a West African flavour after Ghana confirmed their participation in the championship that would run from September 13 to 27.

The Black Stars, who will be competing at the FIFA World Cup in Brazil later this month, notified COSAFA of their acceptance of the invitation last week.

The release further said the African giants will take the place of the Comoros Islands, who opted not to compete in this year’s championship, and will hope to become the first non Southern African side to lift the trophy in the 17 year history of the regional showpiece.

“Ghana are a powerhouse of the continent and have been the most successful African side at the last two world cup tournaments, narrowly missing out on a place in the semi-finals in South African in 2010,” said Timothy Shongwe, chairperson of COSAFA’s organising committee.

The format of the 2014 competition will be the same as last year, where two first round groups will be contested with the winners advancing to the quarter-finals.

Ghana will likely receive a bye into the quarter-finals along with the five other best positioned teams according to the FIFA world rankings, who will be joined by the two pool winners to complete the last eight.

There will also be a plate competition for the losing sides in the quarter-finals to give all teams the opportunity to play multiple matches. The 2013 edition was hosted by Zambia, who ultimately won the tournament. Ends