The 2023 COSAFA Women's Championship was the eleventh edition of the

COSAFA Women's Championship The COSAFA Women's Championship is an association football tournament for teams from Southern Africa organized by Council of Southern Africa Football Associations (COSAFA). South Africa have won the most titles with seven wins. Zimbabwe won the ...

, also known as the 2023

Hollywoodbets Hollywoodbets is a sports betting company based in South Africa. It is also known as Hollywood Sportsbook. It currently operates in South Africa, Mozambique, Ireland and the United Kingdom. The company offers betting via its website, mobisite, ...

COSAFA Women's Championship for sponsorship purposes, the annual international

women's association football Women's association football, more commonly known simply as women's football or women's soccer, is a team sport of association football when played by women only. It is played at the professional level in multiple countries and 176 national te ...

championship contested by women's national teams of

Southern Africa Southern Africa is the southernmost subregion of the African continent, south of the Congo and Tanzania. The physical location is the large part of Africa to the south of the extensive Congo River basin. Southern Africa is home to a number of ...

and organised by

COSAFA Council of Southern Africa Football Associations (french: Conseil des Associations de Football en Afrique Australe; pt, Conselho das Associações de Futebol da África Austral), officially abbreviated as COSAFA, is an association of the footbal ...

. The tournament took place from 4 to 15 October 2023 in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

. The opening match was won by

Eswatini Eswatini ( ; ss, eSwatini ), officially the Kingdom of Eswatini and formerly named Swaziland ( ; officially renamed in 2018), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. It is bordered by Mozambique to its northeast and South Africa to its no ...

, beating

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...

Lucas Moripe Stadium Lucas "Masterpieces" Moripe Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium having a capacity of 28,900 and is located in Atteridgeville, a township (South Africa) of Pretoria, South Africa. It is currently used mostly for football matches and serves as part- ...

Pretoria Pretoria () is South Africa's administrative capital, serving as the seat of the Executive (government), executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to South Africa. Pretoria straddles the Apies River and extends ...

on 4 October 2023 and achieving their first COSAFA Women's Championship victory since 2020.

Malawi Malawi (; or aláwi Tumbuka: ''Malaŵi''), officially the Republic of Malawi, is a landlocked country in Southeastern Africa that was formerly known as Nyasaland. It is bordered by Zambia to the west, Tanzania to the north and northeast ...

were crowned 2023 champions after defeating reigning champions Zambia's Copper Queens 2–1 in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

. It was the first time Malawi had won a COSAFA Women's tournament, securing their first major title.

Mozambique Mozambique (), officially the Republic of Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique or , ; ny, Mozambiki; sw, Msumbiji; ts, Muzambhiki), is a country located in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi ...

claimed their first medal at the COSAFA Women's Championship. Malawian player

Temwa Chawinga Temwa Chawinga (born 20 September 1998) is a Malawian footballer who plays as a forward for the Kansas City Current of the National Women's Soccer League and the Malawi women's national team. Early life Chawinga was born on 20 September 1998 ...

achieved a remarkable double, clinching the Golden Boot with nine goals during the tournament and also claiming the Golden Ball award. Zimbabwe goalkeeper Cynthia Shongwe won the Golden Glove, awarded to the best-performing goalkeeper of the tournament. Of the twelve teams taking part,

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...

and

returned to the competition after missing last year's edition. 2011 Champions Zimbabwe advanced to the semi-finals for the first time since 2019. Host and seven times champion South Africa were eliminated in the group stage after they failed to beat Malawi, the first time the team had not made the semi-finals at the tournament.

Format

In September 2023, during the draw ceremony, the competition format was revealed. The tournament commences with a group stage comprising three groups, each consisting of four teams. The group winners, along with the highest-ranked second-placed team, advance to the knockout stage. The winners of each semifinal proceed to the final, while the losing teams face off in a third-place match to determine the bronze medalist.

Venues

COSAFA has selected three venues within the province of

Gauteng Gauteng ( ) is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. The name in Sotho-Tswana languages means 'place of gold'. Situated on the Highveld, Gauteng is the smallest province by land area in South Africa. Although Gauteng accounts for only ...

, two cities were selected

and

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demo ...

, one stadium in Pretoria and two stadiums in Johannesburg.

, Pretoria will host the opening match between South Africa and Malawi. The same stadium will host the third-place match and the final on 15 October.

Teams

Participation

Twelve member associations of

have confirmed their participation in this year's edition. Out of the 12 taking part in this year's edition, 10 countries competed at the previous tournament in 2022.

made a comeback after being absent from last year's edition. while

whose team had been inactive since 2019, is returning to the international stage. ' ;Did not enter * *

Squads

Draw

The final draw took place at the COSAFA Headquarters in Johannesburg, South Africa, on 14 September 2023 at 11:00

SAST South African Standard Time (SAST) is the time zone used by all of South Africa as well as Eswatini and Lesotho. The zone is two hours ahead of UTC ( UTC+02:00) and is the same as Central Africa Time. Daylight saving time is not observed in e ...

(

UTC+2 UTC+02:00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of +02:00. In ISO 8601, the associated time would be written as 2020-11-08T23:41:45+02:00. This time is used in: As standard time (year-round) ''Principal cities: Cairo, Pretoria, Cape ...

). In this edition, three teams were seeded based on their performance in the

2022 COSAFA Women's Championship The 2022 COSAFA Women's Championship is the 10th edition of the COSAFA Women's Championship, a women's international football tournament for national teams organised by Council of Southern Africa Football Associations, COSAFA, teams from Southern A ...

: Zambia (the 2022 Champions, assigned to B1), South Africa (the 2022 Runners-up, assigned to A1), and Namibia (the 2022 Fourth-place team, assigned to C1). Additionally, two pots were formed for the draw. Pot 1 included the next highest-ranked teams, namely Botswana, Malawi, and Mozambique, while Pot 2 comprised the six remaining lowest-ranked teams, which are Angola, Comoros, Eswatini, Lesotho, Madagascar, and Zimbabwe.

Officials

COSAFA's appointed referees and assistant referees have not yet been announced. For the first time in the tournament history Video assistant referees (VAR) will be used from the semi-finals onwards. ;Referees * Seonyatseng Tshephe * Letticia Viana * Nteboheleng Setoko * Rosa Hanjavola * Rosalie Rosalie * Eness Gumbo * Mercy Kayira * Maria Rivet * Antsino Twanyanyukwa * Vistoria Shangula *

Salima Mukansanga Salima Mukansanga (born 1988) is an international football referee from Rwanda who is a listed international referee for FIFA since 2012. She was an official at the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup in France. In 2022, Mukansanga became the first woman ...

Akhona Makalima Akhona Zennith Makalima (born 27 March 1988) is an international football referee from South Africa who is a listed international referee for FIFA since 2014. She where she officiates for FIFA, the Premier Soccer League, the SASOL Women's Leag ...

* Gloria Sambumba * Grace Gimo ;Assistant Referees * Leungo Tsogang * Mary Njoroge * Lidwine Rakotozafinord * Herilalaina Razafitsalama * Bernadettar Kwimbira * Windy Rambhoro * Olinda Couana * Eveline Augustinus * Nandipha Menze * Diana Chikotesha * Mercy Zulu * Claris Simango ;Video assistant referees * Ahmad Heeralall * Emiliano dos Santos

Group stage

All times are local,

(

Group A

---- ----

Group B

---- ----

Group C

---- ----

Ranking of runner-up teams

Knockout stage

*In the knockout stage,

extra-time Overtime or extra time is an additional period of play specified under the rules of a sport to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played onl ...

and a

penalty shoot-out The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pen ...

will be used to decide the winner if necessary.

Bracket

Semi-finals

Third-place match

Final

Award

The following awards were given at the conclusion of the tournament: the Golden Boot (top scorer), Golden Ball (best overall player) and Golden Glove (best goalkeeper)

Statistics

Goalscorers

Discipline

A player was automatically suspended for the next match for the following offences: *Receiving a red card (red card suspensions may be extended for serious offences) *Receiving two yellow cards in two matches; yellow cards expire after the completion of the group stage (yellow card suspensions are not carried forward to any other future international matches) The following suspensions were served during the tournament:

Final ranking

External links

Official website

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:COSAFA

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

2023 in African football 2023–24 in South African soccer 2023 in South African women's sport 2023 in women's association football International association football competitions hosted by South Africa