10 Jul 2019

Botswana Football Association (BFA) will send a development team to the COSAFA senior women’s championships from July 31 to August 11 in Port Elizabeth, South Africa.

The COSAFA dates clash with the senior women’s trip to Slovakia where they will undergo a rigorous training camp to prepare for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic qualifiers.

BFA spokesperson, Tumo Mpatane confirmed that they were aware of the clash, and that they had already made plans around that. He added that the BFA took the two competitions seriously.

“But we must put it on record that our COSAFA senior women squad will see slightly different women representing us there because we are sending our core women to Slovakia. We must also make it clear that it will be based on the coach’s selection,” he said.

Mpatane said they would have the Under 20 team in Port Elizabeth to represent the country.

He said the BFA felt that COSAFA was an important tournament for the women’s game and its growth as well as for players to experience growth and international exposure.

He added that they believed that a mixture of youth and experience would perform as expected from the team that would take part in the Port Elizabeth competitions.

 “As for the Under 20 team, we are now building for the future and in order to have a progressive plan, we ought to start the building process as early as this year,” he said.

Mpatane said even in the Under 20 team that would compete in the COSAFA Under 20 women championships in August, there would be more Under 17s.

The senior  women national team is in Group B with Zambia, Namibia and Mauritius. In the Under 20 tournament, Botswana is in Group B with Zambia, Tanzania and eSwatini

Meanwhile, the senior women’s team is expected to leave for Slovakia in August. They are expected to play a top European team while in Slovakia. ENDS