The trophy is currently in the hands of fellow regional powerhouse Zambia, after they beat the Warriors in the final two years ago.
Having failed to make their third appearance in the broader African Nations Cup, the Warriors will now have to use the Cosafa Cup as their fall-back attempt at appeasing their success-starved fans – something they have successfully done about three times before.
They will battle it out with teams from Angola, Botswana, the Comoros Islands, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, the Seychelles, South Africa, Swaziland and Zambia.
The organisers revealed this week that the 2015 edition of the regional tournament would take centre stage in South Africa’s North West province from May 17-31, as the teams in the region vie for the prestigious crown.
“The timing of the tournament gives many competing nations the chance to play full-strength sides, including their overseas-based players with many leagues having come to a close by then,” said Cosafa media officer, Lynda Greeff “The South African Football Association will host the tournament, with
12 of the 14 COSAFA nations having confirmed their participation so far. The Comoros Islands have opted not to compete, while Angola will make a decision on their entry shortly.”
The draw for the 2015 tournament takes place in Johannesburg today and will be broadcast live on SuperSport 4 from 6pm.
“The regional senior championship is a crucial component for the development of football in Southern Africa and we are delighted to be staging the event in South Africa this year and using the world-class facilities of the North West province,” said COSAFA President Suketu Patel.
“This tournament forms part of a busy programme in 2015, which includes our Beach Soccer championship in Seychelles from April 9-11 and the Men’s Under-20 tournament late in the year. These are exciting times for the region and we look forward to staging a successful senior championship, one that FIFA President Sepp Blatter once stated was the best regional tournament in the world.”
The format of the tournament would remain the same as in 2013, where the lower eight participating sides according to the February FIFA Rankings would compete in the first round, where they are drawn into two pool each comprising four teams.
The top team in each group advances to the knockout stage of the tournament, where the six higher-ranked sides join the tournament from the quarterfinals onwards. There would also be a plate competition for those sides knocked out in the quarterfinals of the competition to ensure each side plays multiple matches.
Post published in: Football