2020 COSAFA U-20 Cup
| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Host country | Nelson Mandela Bay, South Africa | 
| Dates | 3–13 December 2020 | 
| Teams | 11 (from 1 sub-confederation) | 
| Venue(s) | 3 (in 1 host city) | 
| Final positions | |
| Champions |  Mozambique (1st title) | 
| Runners-up |  Namibia | 
| Third place |  Angola | 
| Fourth place |  Zambia | 
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 19 | 
| Goals scored | 40 (2.11 per match) | 
| Top scorer(s) | 
 | 
| ← 2019  2022 →  | |
The 2020 COSAFA U-20 Cup was the 27th edition of the COSAFA U-20 Challenge Cup, an international youth football tournament open to national associations of the COSAFA region. It took place between 3 December and 13 December in Nelson Mandela Bay, South Africa.[1] Initially planned to be hosted by Mauritius, the competition was later shifted to South Africa after Mauritius withdrew as hosts due to the COVID-19 regulations. The matches were played at Port Elizabeth (Wolfson Stadium and Gelvandale Stadium).
The tournament was also the first qualifying round for the U-20 World Cup in Indonesia in 2021 as the finalists were qualified for the 2021 Africa U-20 Cup of Nations, played in Mauritania where the semi-finalists will see themselves qualify for the World Cup.[2][3]
Participants
Match officials
| Referees 
 
 | Assistant Referees 
 
 | 
Draw
The draw was made in Nelson Mandela Bay on 2 November. Last year's top nations were seeded into one group each and the rest of the teams were placed in 2 pots depending on last year's performance. From the first pot, teams were drawn and slotted consecutively into groups A, B, and C. The last team from pot 1 was then placed among the pot 2 teams to make them 5. Now the teams from the second pot were drawn and slotted consecutively into groups A, B, and C resulting that group C ended up with one less team.[5]
| Seeded | Pot 1 | Pot 2 | 
|---|---|---|
| 
 | 
 | 
Note: Within brackets 2019 year's performance.
Group stage
The group stage will be played in 3 groups as a round-robin, where the group winners and the best runner up will advance to the semi-finals.[6][7]
Group A
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | 
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Mozambique | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | +3 | 7 | Advance to Semi-finals | 
| 2 |  South Africa (H) | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 9 | 2 | +7 | 5 | |
| 3 |  Zimbabwe | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 5 | +1 | 4 | |
| 4 |  Lesotho | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 12 | −11 | 0 | 
| Mozambique  | 1–0 |  Lesotho | 
|---|---|---|
| Cipriano  9' | Report | 
| South Africa  | 2–2 |  Zimbabwe | 
|---|---|---|
| 
 | Report | 
 | 
| Mozambique  | 2–0 |  Zimbabwe | 
|---|---|---|
| 
 | 
| South Africa  | 7–0 |  Lesotho | 
|---|---|---|
| 
 | 
| South Africa  | 0–0 |  Mozambique | 
|---|---|---|
| Report | 
Group B
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | 
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Zambia | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | +5 | 9 | Advance to Semi-finals | 
| 2 |  Namibia | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 2 | +1 | 6 | |
| 3 |  Malawi | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4 | −2 | 3 | |
| 4 |  Comoros | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 4 | −4 | 0 | 
| Zambia  | 2–0 |  Comoros | 
|---|---|---|
| 
 | 
| Zambia  | 2–0 |  Malawi | 
|---|---|---|
| 
 | Report | 
Group C
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | 
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Angola | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 1 | +3 | 3 | Advance to Semi-finals | 
| 2 |  Eswatini | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | |
| 3 |  Botswana | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | −3 | 3 | 
| Angola  | 0–1 |  Eswatini | 
|---|---|---|
| 
 | 
| Botswana  | 0–4 |  Angola | 
|---|---|---|
| 
 | 
Knockout stage
| Semi-finals | Final | |||||
| 11 December – Wolfson Stadium | ||||||
|  Angola | 0 | |||||
| 13 December – Wolfson Stadium | ||||||
|  Namibia | 1 | |||||
|  Namibia | 0 | |||||
| 11 December – Wolfson Stadium | ||||||
|  Mozambique | 1 | |||||
|  Mozambique | 0 (5) | |||||
|  Zambia | 0 (4) | |||||
| Third place | ||||||
| 13 December – Wolfson Stadium | ||||||
|  Angola | 2 | |||||
|  Zambia | 1 | |||||
Semi-finals
Winners qualified for 2021 Africa U-20 Cup of Nations.
| Angola  | 0–1 |  Namibia | 
|---|---|---|
| Report | 
 | 
| Mozambique  | 0–0 (5–4 pen.) |  Zambia | 
|---|---|---|
| Report | 
Third-place match
Final
| Namibia  | 0–1 |  Mozambique | 
|---|---|---|
| Report | 
 | 
Champions
| 2020 COSAFA U-20 Championship champion | 
|---|
|  Mozambique First title | 
Qualification for CAF U20 Cup of Nations
The two finalists of the tournament qualified for the 2021 Africa U-20 Cup of Nations.
Qualified nations:
References
- ^ "Southern Africa: South Africa Begin Preps for Cosafa Men's Under-20 Championship". allAfrica. Retrieved 15 November 2020.
- ^ "COSAFA Men's Under-20 Champs starts journey to World Cup". Council of Southern Africa Football Associations. Retrieved 15 November 2020.
- ^ "Draw looms for COSAFA Men's Under-17 and Under-20 zonal qualifiers". Council of Southern Africa Football Associations. Retrieved 15 November 2020.
- ^ "The 2020 COSAFA Men's Under-20 Championships in Numbers". Council of Southern Africa Football Associations. Retrieved 15 November 2020.
- ^ "Men's U17 and U20 teams to learn their COSAFA Championships fate on Monday". Council of Southern Africa Football Associations. Retrieved 15 November 2020.
- ^ "COSAFA Men's U17 and U20 fixtures provide eye-catching entertainment". Council of Southern Africa Football Associations. Retrieved 15 November 2020.
- ^ "Cosafa U20, U17 Draws Unveiled". Zambia Reports. Archived from the original on 18 November 2020. Retrieved 15 November 2020.