The Zimbabwe national football team will be expected to defend their regional championship title when the 14th edition of the COSAFA Senior Challenge explodes into life in Angola on November 13. (Pictured: The Warriors will battle to defend their title this year in Angola.)
The tournament will be hosted by the Federao Angolana de Futebol (FAF), together with the Angolan government, and will take place in the cities of Benguela and Lubango, centres which hosted matches during the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations, last January.
COSAFA reached an agreement for the hosting of the Southern African championship with the Minister of Youth and Sports for Angola, Gonalves Muandumba, in Luanda recently.
The 2010 COSAFA Senior Challenge will be played against the backdrop of Angolas celebrations of 35 years of independence, with the government choosing to include the prestigious event on their calendar of festivities to show their support for football in the region.
We are delighted that Angola have taken up the challenge and shown such excellent support for the region by agreeing to host the 2010 COSAFA Senior Challenge. We are pleased to be able to take the tournament to such a wonderful part of our region, and at the same time give the Angolan provinces of Benguela and Hula additional exposure for the first-class facilities which they built for the Nations Cup, said COSAFA president, Suketu Patel.
Zimbabwe lifted the previous Cosafa Cup hosted in Harare and Bulawayo after beating rivals Zambia 3-1 in the final. Angola will be hoping to utilise home ground advantage to build on their quarter final finish last year.
Two groups of four teams play in a round-robin format in the first round. These sides will be determined using the FIFA World Rankings to select the eight lowest positioned nations in the Cosafa region.
The top team in each pool will advance to the quarterfinals, where they will be joined by the six top-ranked sides in Southern African, again according to the FIFA World Rankings. The tournament then continues in a knockout format, with the final to be held in Benguela on November 27.
Post published in: Football