2024 COSAFA Under-17 Championship

COSAFA U-17
Youth Championship 2024
Campeonato COSAFA Sub-17 Masculino 2024
Tournament details
Host country	South Africa
Dates	5–14 December
Teams	12 (from 1 sub-confederation)
Venues	2 (in 1 host city)
Final positions
Champions	Zambia (4th title)
Runners-up	Angola
Tournament statistics
Matches played	21
Goals scored	70 (3.33 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Abel Nyirongo; (7 goals)
Best player	Mapalo Simute
Best goalkeeper	Gelson Dala
Fair play award	Angola
	← 2022 2025 →

The 2024 COSAFA U-17 Youth Championship (officially known as the TotalEnergies U-17 Africa Cup of Nations 2025 — COSAFA Qualifiers) was the 12th edition of the COSAFA U-17 Youth Championship (and the 4th time the tournament served as the qualifiers for the continental final tournament), the international youth football championship organised by COSAFA for the men's under-17 national teams of Southern Africa. Mozambique was initially designated to host the tournament but was stripped of the hosting rights due to ongoing protests following the 2024 Mozambican general election.^[1] It was then moved to Johannesburg, South Africa.^[2]

Zambia were the defending champions, having defeated South Africa 2–1 in the final of the previous edition,^[3] and they successfully retained their title by defeating Angola 2–1 in the final.^[4]

Participation

Participating teams

Twelve of the 14 COSAFA member nations have entered the competition, which serves as the regional qualifying tournament for the 2025 U-17 Africa Cup of Nations.^[5] Originally there were 2 qualification spots, but a third spot was added after the competition.^[6]^[7]^[8]

Note: All statistics exclude instances where the team was disqualified during the tournament.

Team	Appearance	Last appearance	Previous best performance
Angola	7th	2021 (Champions)	Champions (2018, 2021)
Botswana	9th	2022 (Fourth place)	Third place (2002)
Comoros	2nd	2019 (Group stage)	Group stage (2019)
Eswatini	8th	2021 (Fourth place)	Runners-up (2002)
Lesotho	8th	2021 (Group stage)	Fourth place (2002)
Malawi	11th	2022 (Third place)	Champions (2001)
Mauritius	6th	2018 (Fourth place)	Runners-up (2017)
Mozambique	6th	2022 (Group stage)	Runners-up (1994, 2019)
Namibia	7th	2022 (Group stage)	Champions (2016)
South Africa	11th	2022 (Runners-up)	Champions (1994, 2002, 2020)
Zambia	10th	2022 (Champions)	Champions (2017, 2019, 2022)
Zimbabwe	6th	2018 (Group stage)	Champions (2007)

Did not enter

Draw

The draw was held on 5 September 2024 at 11:00 CET (UTC+2) at Maputo. The 12 teams were drawn into three groups of four teams, with hosts Mozambique seeded in Group A (position A1), the defending champions Zambia seeded in Group B (position B1) and South Africa seeded in Group C (position C1). The remaining 9 teams were allocated to two pots based on the results of the previous tournament edition and were drawn to the remaining positions.^[9]^[10]

Seeds	Pot 1	Pot 2
Mozambique (hosts) Zambia (title holder) South Africa	Botswana Malawi Namibia	Angola Comoros Eswatini Lesotho Mauritius Zimbabwe

Squads

Each team was required to register a squad of 20 players for the tournament, with players born on or after 1 January 2008 eligible to participate.^[11]

Venues

On 26 November 2024, it was announced that the tournament had been moved from the original host city, Maputo, Mozambique, to Johannesburg, South Africa, with two venues selected to host all matches.^[12]

Johannesburg		Johannesburg
UJ Soweto Stadium	UJ AW Muller Stadium
Capacity: 8,000	Capacity: 1,500

Match officials

The following officials were appointed to oversee the tournament:

Referees

Nelson da Silva
Joyce Seonyatseng
Moemedi Thabologang
Thembinkosi Dlamini
Nothando Nkhumane
Wilson Muianga
Mweshitsama Naftal
Samuel Nghipandulwa
Noris Arissol
Nonjabulo Ndlela
Chola Chansa
Brighton Chimene

Assistant Referees

Dorcus Chenset
Mooketsi Mankanku
Celumusa Phiri
Siza Dlangamandla
Lameck Phiri
Nandipha Menze
Warren Mulenga
Dominica Melusi

Video Assistant Referees

Letticia Viana
Abongile Tom

Assistant Video Assistant Referees

Group stage

Tie-breaking criteria for group play^[11]
Should two teams finish on the same number of points in the pool phase, they will be separated by: The result of their head-to-head meetings in the first instance; Goal difference in all group matches; Goals scored in all group matches; Disciplinary points Yellow card: −1 point; Indirect red card (second yellow card): −3 points; Direct red card: −3 points; Drawing of lots. Should more than two teams finish level on points, the following criteria will be used: The greatest number of points obtained in the matches between the teams concerned; The goal difference in the matches between the teams concerned; The greatest number of goals scored in the matches between the teams concerned; If after applying criteria (1) to (3), two teams are still equal, the criteria will be reapplied to matches played between the two teams in question to determine the final ranking of the two teams. If this procedure does not allow for classification, the criteria listed below will be applied in the indicated order: Goal difference in all group matches; The highest number of goals scored in all group matches; Fair Play points system.

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Angola	3	2	1	0	4	2	+2	7	Semi-finals
2	Mozambique	3	1	1	1	2	2	0	4
3	Lesotho	3	1	0	2	4	5	−1	3
4	Malawi	3	0	2	1	4	5	−1	2

Source: Soccerway
Rules for classification: Group stage tiebreakers

4 December 2024