07 Nov 2017

Botswana will not participate in the 2017 COSAFA Under 20 Championships set to take place in Zambia from December 6-16 .

A press release from the Botswana Football Association’s national executive committee says BFA made a decision to take a gap year from the championships after an evaluation of recent performances at this age group.

It further says  “BFA’s position is that the Under 20 is a level where the direction of our football should be taking a direction.

However evaluation shows our recent performances do not positively define our direction.”

The release also says the vision of the BFA NEC is to have an Under 20 Team that competes more than participates.

It furthers states that the technical department has been tasked with using development structures to groom a team that will compete with a long term goal in mind.

The release furthermore says strategy demands that there should be a long term plan that will see a team that should be able to compete at the 2018 Africa Zone 5 games and in the same year compete in the 2018 COSAFA under 20 championships.

The association believes that the same team should compete to qualify for the African and World Under 20 Championships in 2019 and ultimately qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic games.

The release furthermore says the decision to take a gap year will help create a pool of players and prepare them to achieve the set milestones in line with the association strategy as well as that of the Botswana National Sports Commission of 2028. ENDS