Cosafa U-17 Girls' Championship: Key Stats Revealed

The 2025 COSAFA Under-17 Girls' Championship will take place in Windhoek, Namibia, running from May 10-17. This marks the sixth occasion that a championship for this age group will be held in the area.

We emphasize the figures related to the crucial contest for nurturing young athletes' growth.

0 - You won't miss any part of the tournament as all matches will be streamed live on FIFA+.

0 - Currently, there isn’t an official African Women’s Under-17 Championship; instead, teams compete through series of home-and-away knock-out matches to secure their spots at the FIFA Under-17 Women's World Cup biennially. The upcoming world tournament is scheduled for 2025 in Morocco, where Zambia has advanced to the final phase of qualifiers and will be up against Benin.

1 - Uganda emerged as the first champions of the COSAFA Under-17 Girls' Championship when they defeated South Africa with a score of 2-1 in the final match held in Mauritius in 2019. In 2020, another participating country from outside the region, Tanzania, won the tournament.

1 - In the first-ever Player of the Tournament award at the 2019 COSAFA Under-17 Girls' Championship, South African team leader Jessica Wade received this honor. Zambian player Tisilile Lungu secured the same accolade in 2020, followed by another Zambian teammate, Pumulo Lubasi, who earned the title in 2021. The following year, in 2022, South Africa’s Sinazo Ntshota took home the prestigious prize, with Mercy Chipasula from Zambia continuing the trend as she clinched the recognition again in 2024.

2 - In 2021, Zambia emerged as the inaugural Southern African team to claim the championship title after defeating Botswana with a score of 4-0 in the finals. The Zambian squad repeated their success in 2024 by overpowering Lesotho with an overwhelming victory of 15-0 in what was clearly a decisive match. As such, Zambia stands alone as the sole team to have won this honor twice so far.

2 - Chitete Munsaka from Zambia secured the Golden Glove as the top goalkeeper in both 2020 and 2021. She remains the sole player to have received this honor twice within the tournament’s history. In 2019, Daphine Nyayenga from Uganda claimed the accolade, followed by Casey Gordon from South Africa in 2022 and Loveness Chingwele from Zambia in 2024.

2 - In 2019, Uganda became the second guest country to claim victory at any COSAFA tournament following Tanzania’s groundbreaking achievement earlier that year when they secured the title for the Under-20 Women's Championship held in Nelson Mandela Bay. Following this success, Tanzania has gone on to clinch both the senior women's and Under-17 championships as well. Additionally, Senegal and Morocco have triumphed in the Beach Soccer Championship.

2 - Among COSAFA countries, only South Africa and Zambia have participated in the FIFA Under-17 World Cup. South Africa achieved this in 2010 and 2018, whereas Zambia made their appearances in 2014 and 2024.

4 - In 2022, South Africa emerged victorious as the fourth distinct team in consecutive years to claim the COSAFA Under-17 Girls' Championship title after narrowly defeating Zambia with a score of 4-3 in an exciting final match.

5 - The COSAFA Under-17 Girls' Championships are among the five female-centric tournaments scheduled for 2025, alongside the COSAFA Women's Championship, the COSAFA Under-20 Women's Championship, the COSAFA Women's Champions League, and the girls' event at the African Schools Football Championship COSAFA Zonal Qualifiers.

5 - Previously, only five countries from the COSAFA region had participated in the qualifying rounds for the FIFA Women's Under-17 World Cup—Botswana, Mauritius, Namibia, South Africa, and Zambia. The consistent staging of the COSAFA Under-17 Girls' Championship is expected to increase this count.

5 - Following Mauritius (2019), South Africa (2020, 2024), Lesotho (2021), and Malawi (2022), Namibia will be the fifth country to hold the event over these six iterations. Initially scheduled to host in 2024, Mozambique pulled out later.

9 - Nine teams will participate in the 2025 COSAFA Under-17 Girls' Championship: Botswana, Comoros, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

10 - Aisha Masaka from Tanzania topped the scoring charts in the 2020 COSAFA Under-17 Girls' Championship with 10 goals. Following her impressive performance, she moved up to the national senior women’s squad and found success again by scoring during the 2021 COSAFA Women's Championship. Currently, Aisha competes for Brighton & Hove Albion in England's Women's Super League.

14 - The COSAFA Under-17 Girls' Championship allows participation from all 14 countries that form part of the Southern African regional organization. Additionally, Réunion, being an associated member, has the option to join in these competitions.

18 - Juliet Nalukenge from Winners Uganda led the scoring chart in the 2019 championship with an impressive total of 18 goals across just five games. This achievement stands as the highest number of goals scored within a single edition of the tournament, and this record still hasn’t been surpassed by any athlete during the last five championships.

The figure of twenty-eight represents the total goals netted by South Africa when they dominated Seychelles in their Group B encounter back in 2019. This tally marked not only the highest score recorded in an official continental game within Africa but also set records for the most extensive win gap seen in women’s international competition. Additionally, this impressive result stands out as the greatest point differential achieved by any South African squad during an officially sanctioned fixture.

110 - The 2024 COSAFA Under-17 Girls' Championship witnessed an impressive tally of 110 goals across 21 matches (averaging 5.24 goals per game), highlighting the thrilling quality of play throughout the tournament.

There were an astounding 158 goals scored during the 16 matches in the 2019 championship, which averages out to nearly 10 goals per game! This figure still stands as the record-high to this day.

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