The Zambia U17 National team will learn their opponents for the TotalEnergies CAF Under-17 Africa Cup of Nations | COSAFA Qualifier tomorrow.
The draws will be streamed live on COSAFA’s YouTube Channel, Facebook Page, and CAF TV. The TotalEnergies CAF Under-17 Africa Cup of Nations | COSAFA Qualifier draw will take place at 11h30 CAT (09h30 GMT).
The U17 COSAFA Qualifier will be held in Harare from September 11 to 20.
Twelve nations will take part in the U17 AFCON COSAFA Qualifier: Angola, Botswana, Comoros, Lesotho, Eswatini, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
The teams will be divided into three groups of four. Zimbabwe will be the top seed in Group A as hosts, with Zambia and Angola heading Groups B and C respectively. Pot 1 in the draw will contain South Africa, Mozambique and Botswana as the next highest-ranked teams, while Pot 2 will include the remaining six sides.
In the previous edition, the top three teams advanced to the CAF U17 Africa Cup of Nations finals. Zambia are the defending champions, having defeated Angola 2–1 in the 2025 final, while South Africa qualified as the next best side.
Both Zambia and South Africa earned qualification for the expanded 48-team FIFA Under-17 World Cup, which will now be held annually.
Nine COSAFA nations have reached the continental Under-17 finals over the years. South Africa achieved the region’s best performance by finishing as runners-up in 2015. Angola secured third place in 2019, while Malawi finished fourth in 2009. Historically, the Under-17 age group has proved to be a challenging level for COSAFA teams in continental competition.
The COSAFA Under-17 Championship has taken on various forms in the past, including appearances as part of the AUSC Region 5 Games, though it remained organised by COSAFA. Zambia lead the way with four tournament wins in 2017, 2019, 2022 and 2024. South Africa have won three times in 1994, 2002 and 2020, while Angola claimed titles in 2018 and 2021. Malawi (2001), Zimbabwe (2007) and Namibia (2016) have each won once.
South Africa have been runners-up on five occasions, giving them eight final appearances from 12 editions – the most of any team. Three of those finals were decided by penalty shootouts: Zimbabwe beat South Africa in 2007, Namibia edged them in 2016, and South Africa beat Zambia in 2020.
The competition has produced many players who have gone on to feature for senior national teams across the region.
