2024 COSAFA Women's Championship

Hollywoodbets COSAFA
Women's Championship 2024
Tournament details
Host country	South Africa
City	Gqeberha
Dates	22 October – 2 November
Teams	14 (from 1 sub-confederation)
Venue(s)	3 (in 1 host city)
Final positions
Champions	Zambia (2nd title)
Runners-up	South Africa
Tournament statistics
Matches played	21
Goals scored	75 (3.57 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Ochumba Lubandji; Fridah Mukoma; (4 goals each)
Best player(s)	Isabella Ludwig
Best goalkeeper	Jessica Williams
Fair play award	Zambia
	← 2023 2025 →

The 2024 COSAFA Women's Championship was the twelfth edition of the COSAFA Women's Championship, also known as the 2024 Hollywoodbets COSAFA Women's Championship for sponsorship purposes, the annual international women's association football championship contested by the women's national teams of Southern Africa and organised by COSAFA. The tournament took place in Gqeberha, South Africa from 22 October to 2 November 2024.^[1] The opening match was won by Eswatini for the second consecutive year, defeating debutant Seychelles 6–0 at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Gqeberha, achieving their biggest win to date.^[2]

Malawi were the defending champions, having claimed their first title in the previous edition.^[3] However, their attempt to defend the title fell short in the semi-finals when they were eliminated by the eventual champions Zambia,^[4] who went on to clinch their second title after defeating host South Africa in the final 4–3 on penalties following a scoreless draw.^[5]^[6] Zambian players Ochumba Lubandji and Fridah Mukoma co-jointly won the Golden Boot scoring four goals each throughout the tournament. South Africa's Isabella Ludwig was voted the tournament's best player, winning the Golden Ball, whilst Ludwig's teammate Jessica Williams won the Golden Glove, awarded to the best-performing goalkeeper of the tournament.

Of the fourteen participating teams, Seychelles made their tournament debut, with them and Mauritius scoring their first-ever goals in the competition against South Africa and Madagascar, respectively.^[7]^[8] Comoros achieved their first win in the tournament after defeating Angola in the group stage.^[9]

Format

The competition format was unveiled at the official draw ceremony held in October 2024. The tournament began with a group stage featuring four groups (two groups of four teams and two groups of three teams). The top team from each group progressed to the semifinals. The winners of the semifinals advanced to the final, while, for the first time since 2020, no third-place match was held.^[10]

Teams

Participation

A record 14 COSAFA Member Associations have entered this year's edition, marking the first time all members were participating. Of the 14 teams competing, 12 featured in last year's 2023 edition. Mauritius returned to the tournament after missing the previous edition, while Seychelles made their debut in the competition.^[11]

Note: All appearance statistics exclude the 2008 edition.

Team	App	Last appearance	Previous best performance	FIFA ranking August 2024
Angola^[12]	7th	2023	Group stage (2006, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023)	148
Botswana^[12]	10th	2023	Runners-up (2020)	153
Comoros^[12]	5th	2023	Group stage (2019, 2020, 2022, 2023)	188
Eswatini^[13]	10th	2023	Group stage (2002, 2006, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023)	182
Lesotho^[13]	9th	2023	Group stage (2002, 2006, 2011, 2017, 2018, 2020, 2022, 2023)	176
Madagascar^[13]	5th	2023	Group stage (2017, 2018, 2019, 2023)	190
Malawi^[14]	11th	2023	Champions (2023)	156
Mauritius^[14]	4th	2022	Group stage (2017, 2019, 2022)	194
Mozambique^[15]	10th	2023	Third place (2023)	171
Namibia^[15]	8th	2023	Runners-up (2006)	125
Seychelles^[15]	1st	—	Debut	170
South Africa^[16]	11th	2023	Champions (2002, 2006, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020)	50
Zambia^[16]	11th	2023	Champions (2022)	62
Zimbabwe^[16]	10th	2023	Champions (2011)	124

Squads

Draw

The final group stage draw took place at COSAFA House in Johannesburg, South Africa, on 8 October 2024 at 12:00 SAST (UTC+2).^[17]^[18]

For this edition, the top three teams from the previous tournament, along with the host nation, were automatically placed into the following positions. South Africa, the host nation, to position A1; Malawi, the 2023 champions, were assigned to position B1; Zambia, the 2023 runners-up, to position C1; and Mozambique, the 2023 third-place team, to position D1. The remaining teams were seeded into three pots for the draw: Pot 1 included Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namibia, and Angola; Pot 2 featured Eswatini, Madagascar, Comoros, and Lesotho; and Pot 3 contained Seychelles and Mauritius, who did not compete in the previous edition.^[10]

Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3
Zimbabwe Botswana Namibia Angola	Eswatini Madagascar Lesotho Comoros	Mauritius Seychelles

Venues

Gqeberha has been selected as the host city for this year's tournament, with two venues located within the city itself and one in the nearby iBhayi township, including the renowned Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium.

Gqeberha		Ibhayi	Gqeberha iBhayi
Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium	Madibaz Stadium	Wolfson Stadium
Capacity: 42,486	Capacity: 15,000	Capacity: 10,000

Officials

COSAFA appointed 11 referees, 11 assistant referees, and 3 video assistant referees for the tournament. VAR was introduced from Matchday Three onward, a shift from the previous edition where it was only implemented starting from the semifinals.^[19]

Referees

Tânia Marisa Duarte
Seonyatseng Tshephe
Nteboheleng Setoko
Eness Gumbo^[a]
Vistoria Shangula
Antsino Twanyanyukwa^[a]
Akhona Makalima^[a]
Gloria Sambumba
Mercy Mayimbo
Grace Gimo
Thanks Nyahuye

Assistant Referees

Leungo Tsogang
Polotso Maapara^[b]
Bernadettar Kwimbira^[b]
Mphatso M'matete
Roda Mondlane
Olivia Amukuu
Nandipha Menze
Diana Chikotesha^[b]
Lumbizai Musawa^[b]
Mercy Zulu
Claris Simango^[b]

Video assistant referees

Letticia Viana
Imtehaz Heeralall
Abongile Tom

^ ^a ^b ^c Main Referee and Video assistant referee
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Assistant Referee and Assistant video assistant referee

Group stage

All times are local, SAST (UTC+2). The match schedule was announced by COSAFA on 9 October 2024.^[20]

Tie-breaking criteria for group play
The ranking of teams in the group stage was determined as follows: Points obtained in the matches played between the teams in question (three points for a win, one for a draw, none for a defeat); Goal difference in the matches played between the teams in question; Number of goals scored in the matches played between the teams in question; Goal difference in all group matches; Fair play points in all group matches (only one deduction could be applied to a player in a single match): Yellow card: −1 point; Indirect red card (second yellow card): −3 points; Direct red card: −4 points; Yellow card and direct red card: −5 points; Drawing of lots.

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	South Africa (H)	3	3	0	12	1	+11	9	Advance to knockout stage
2	Namibia	3	2	1	9	1	+8	6
3	Eswatini	3	1	2	6	5	+1	3
4	Seychelles	3	0	3	1	21	−20	0

Source: Soccerway
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers
(H) Hosts

22 October 2024