2024 COSAFA Cup

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2024 COSAFA Cup
Tournament details
Host country South Africa
City Gqeberha
Dates26 June – 7 July
Teams12 (from 1 confederation)
Venue(s)2 (in 1 host city)
Final positions
ChampionsFlag of Angola.svg  Angola (4th title)
Runners-upFlag of Namibia.svg  Namibia
Third placeFlag of Mozambique.svg  Mozambique
Fourth placeFlag of the Comoros.svg  Comoros
Tournament statistics
Matches played22
Goals scored47 (2.14 per match)
Top scorer(s) Flag of Angola.svg Depú
(5 goals)
Best player(s) Flag of Angola.svg Maestro
Best goalkeeper Flag of Mozambique.svg Armando Doutor
2023
2025

The 2024 COSAFA Cup was the 23rd edition of the annual association football competition organized by COSAFA. It was held in South Africa for the seventh straight year, this time in Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth), from 26 June to 7 July 2024. [1] Zambia were the defending champions, but were eliminated in the group stage.

Contents

Participating nations

Twelve nations featured in the 2024 edition of the tournament. Two COSAFA members, Madagascar and Mauritius, did not participate. [2] Zimbabwe returned to the tournament for the first time since the 2021 edition following its FIFA ban. [3] Despite originally being announced as a participant, Malawi withdrew from the tournament prior to the group draw out of respect for eight victims of a plane crash earlier that week. One of the victims was former Vice-President of Malawi Saulos Chilima. [4] Kenya accepted COSAFA’s invitation to participate as a guest to replace Malawi. [5]

National teamFIFA Ranking (4 April 2024) [6] Previous best performance
Flag of Eswatini.svg  Eswatini 148Semi-finals (1999, 2002, 2003, 2021)
Flag of the Comoros.svg  Comoros 117Quarter-finals (2019)
Flag of Lesotho.svg  Lesotho 149Runners-up (2000, 2023)
Flag of Botswana.svg  Botswana 146Runners-up (2016, 2019)
Flag of Zambia.svg  Zambia 86Champions (1997, 1998, 2006, 2013, 2019, 2022, 2023)
Flag of Mozambique.svg  Mozambique 110Runners-up (2008, 2015)
Flag of Namibia.svg  Namibia 106Champions (2015)
Flag of South Africa.svg  South Africa 59Champions (2002, 2007, 2008, 2016, 2021)
Flag of Angola.svg  Angola 94Champions (1999, 2001, 2004)
Flag of Seychelles.svg  Seychelles 197Group stage (2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2022, 2023)
Flag of Zimbabwe.svg  Zimbabwe 122Champions (2000, 2003, 2005, 2009, 2017, 2018)
Flag of Kenya.svg  Kenya (Guest)107Group stage (2013)

Format

The twelve participating teams were drawn into three groups of four teams. As the defending champions, Zambia and the next two highest ranked teams, Angola and South Africa, were in separate groups as the seeded teams. Group winners and the best runner-up will moved on to the semi-finals. [2]

Dates

Originally scheduled to be held 14 to 23 June 2024, the competition was then postponed. [7] At the time the date change was announced, nations had already begun naming their squads and leagues had altered their season schedules to accommodate the tournament. COSAFA stated that the postponement was necessarily to give the competition maximum exposure, presumably because of a number of high-profile competitions that would have been taking place at the same time. [8] [9] On 13 June 2024, COSAFA announced the tournament would be played from 26 June to 7 July 2024. [2]

Draw

The draw for the group stage of the 2024 COSAFA Cup was held on 14 June 2024 in Johannesburg. [2] [10]

Venues

Gqeberha Gqeberha
Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium Wolfson Stadium
Capacity: 42,486Capacity: 10,000
Nelson Mandela Stadium in Port Elizabeth (cropped).jpg

Group stage

Tiebreakers

Teams are ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss), and if tied on points, the following tiebreaking criteria are applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings:

  1. Points in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
  2. Goal difference in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
  3. Goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
  4. If more than two teams are tied, and after applying all head-to-head criteria above, a subset of teams are still tied, all head-to-head criteria above are reapplied exclusively to this subset of teams;
  5. Goal difference in all group matches;
  6. Goals scored in all group matches;
  7. Penalty shoot-out if only two teams are tied and they met in the last round of the group;
  8. Disciplinary points (yellow card = 1 point, red card as a result of two yellow cards = 3 points, direct red card = 3 points, yellow card followed by direct red card = 4 points);
  9. Drawing of lots.

Group stage matches were played from 26 June to 3 July 2024. [10]

Group A

PosTeamPldWDLGFGAGDPtsQualification
1Flag of Mozambique.svg  Mozambique 312042+25Advance to knockout stage
2Flag of South Africa.svg  South Africa 312021+15
3Flag of Eswatini.svg  Eswatini 30210112
4Flag of Botswana.svg  Botswana 30211322
Source: COSAFA
Rules for classification: Group stage tiebreakers
South Africa  Flag of South Africa.svg1–1Flag of Mozambique.svg  Mozambique
  • Dortley Soccerball shade.svg39'
Report


Group B

PosTeamPldWDLGFGAGDPtsQualification
1Flag of the Comoros.svg  Comoros 320131+26Advance to knockout stage
2Flag of Kenya.svg  Kenya 320142+26
3Flag of Zimbabwe.svg  Zimbabwe 320132+16
4Flag of Zambia.svg  Zambia 30030550
Source: COSAFA
Rules for classification: Group stage tiebreakers

Kenya  Flag of Kenya.svg0–2Flag of the Comoros.svg  Comoros
Report

Group C

PosTeamPldWDLGFGAGDPtsQualification
1Flag of Angola.svg  Angola 321063+37Advance to knockout stage
2Flag of Namibia.svg  Namibia 321052+37
3Flag of Seychelles.svg  Seychelles 30124731
4Flag of Lesotho.svg  Lesotho 30123631
Source: COSAFA
Rules for classification: Group stage tiebreakers

Angola  Flag of Angola.svg3–2Flag of Seychelles.svg  Seychelles
Report

Namibia  Flag of Namibia.svg3–1Flag of Seychelles.svg  Seychelles
Report
Lesotho  Flag of Lesotho.svg1–3Flag of Angola.svg  Angola
Report

Best Runner-up Table

PosGrpTeamPldWDLGFGAGDPtsQualification
1 C Flag of Namibia.svg  Namibia 321052+37Advance to knockout stage
2 B Flag of Kenya.svg  Kenya 320142+26
3 A Flag of South Africa.svg  South Africa 312021+15
Source: COSAFA
Rules for classification: Group stage tiebreakers

Knockout stage

Semi-final matches were played on 5 July 2024 with the third-place and final match played two days later. [10]

Bracket

 
Semi-Finals Final
 
      
 
5 July –Gqeberha
 
 
Flag of the Comoros.svg  Comoros 1
 
7 July – Gqeberha
 
Flag of Angola.svg  Angola 2
 
Flag of Angola.svg  Angola 5
 
5 July –Gqeberha
 
Flag of Namibia.svg  Namibia 0
 
Flag of Mozambique.svg  Mozambique 0 (2)
 
 
Flag of Namibia.svg  Namibia (p) 0 (4)
 
Third-Place
 
 
7 July - Gqeberha
 
 
Flag of the Comoros.svg  Comoros 2 (1)
 
 
Flag of Mozambique.svg  Mozambique (p)2 (3)

Semi-finals

Comoros  Flag of the Comoros.svg1–2Flag of Angola.svg  Angola
Report

Third-place

Final

Angola  Flag of Angola.svg5–0Flag of Namibia.svg  Namibia
Report

Statistics

Goalscorers

There were 47 goals scored in 22 matches, for an average of 2.14 goals per match.

5 goals

3 goals

2 goals

1 goal

References

  1. "Warriors drawn in Group C for COSAFA Cup". Namibia Football Association. 14 June 2024. Retrieved 15 June 2024.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Draw for 2024 COSAFA Cup to be held on Friday 14 June". COSAFA. 13 June 2024. Retrieved 13 June 2024.
  3. "COSAFA confirms new dates for 2024 COSAFA Cup". soccer24.co.ze. 13 June 2024. Retrieved 13 June 2024.
  4. "Flames pull out of COSAFA tourney". Malawi 24. 14 June 2024. Retrieved 14 June 2024.
  5. Omotto, Joel (16 June 2024). "Harambee Stars set for COSAFA Cup after earning late invitation". Pulse Sports. Retrieved 16 June 2024.
  6. "The FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking - Ranking Table". FIFA.com . Retrieved 13 June 2024.
  7. Munthali, Burnett (5 June 2024). "2024 COSAFA Cup shifted to a later date". Maravia Post. Retrieved 12 June 2024.
  8. "Warriors squad for COSAFA Cup named". Soccer 24. 2 June 2024. Retrieved 12 June 2024.
  9. "COSAFA Cup postponed; PSL matches set to resume on 15 June ZIMBABWE SPORTS 2024 COSAFA Cup postponed; PSL matches set to resume on 15 June". Zimsphere. Retrieved 12 June 2024.
  10. 1 2 3 "Three tough groups headline 2024 COSAFA Cup". COSAFA. 14 June 2024. Retrieved 14 June 2024.