| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Host country | Mozambique |
| City | Matola |
| Dates | 26 September–5 October |
| Teams | 12 (from 1 sub-confederation) |
| Venue(s) | Estádio da Matola |
| Final positions | |
| Champions | (9th title) |
| Runners-up | |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 18 |
| Goals scored | 55 (3.06 per match) |
| Top scorer(s) | (4 goals) |
| Best player(s) | |
| Best goalkeeper | |
| Fair play award | |
← 2022 2025 → | |
The 2024 COSAFA U-20 Cup was the 29th edition of the COSAFA U-20 Challenge Cup, an international youth football tournament open to national associations of the COSAFA region. It took place between 26 September and 5 October 2024 in Mozambique. This competition served as the COSAFA qualifiers for the 2025 U-20 Africa Cup of Nations.
South Africa defeated defending champions Zambia 2-0 in the final. Both finalists qualified for the 2025 U-20 Africa Cup of Nations. [1] [2] South Africa scored 16 goals in the five matches played, with zero goals conceded against them.
The following twelve teams contested the tournament.
| Team | Appearances | Previous best performance |
|---|---|---|
| 29th | Runner-up (2000, 2001, 2002, 2011) | |
| 22nd | 3rd Place (2009, 2011) | |
| 5th | Group stage (2013, 2016, 2019, 2020) | |
| 29th | Champion (2020) | |
| 29th | Runner-up (1990, 2005, 2017) | |
| 20th | 4th Place (1986, 2000, 2006, 2011) | |
| 29th | Champion (2020) | |
| 29th | Champion (2020) | |
| 29th | Champion (2000, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2013, 2017, 2018) | |
| 29th | Champion (1983, 1986, 1993, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2003, 2010, 2011, 2016, 2019, 2022) |
| | This section is empty. You can help by adding to it. (September 2024) |
| | This section is empty. You can help by adding to it. (September 2024) |
The draw was held on 5 September 2024 at 11:00 CET (UTC+2) at Maputo.The 12 teams were drawn into three groups of four teams, with hosts Mozambique seeded in Group A (position A1), the defending champions Zambia seeded in Group B (position B1) and South Africa seeded in Group C (position C1). The remaining 9 teams were allocated to two pots based on the results of the previous tournament edition and were drawn to the remaining positions. [3]
| Seeded | Pot 1 | Pot 2 |
|---|---|---|
|
The group stage were played in 3 groups as a round-robin, where the winners and the best runner-up advanced to the semi-finals. Because of Madagascar's withdrawal, points gained against the team finishing last in Groups A and C were not included in the calculation of the best runner-up.
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 1 | +4 | 7 | Semi-finals | |
| 2 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 2 | +1 | 5 | ||
| 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 7 | −2 | 4 | ||
| 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 8 | −3 | 0 |
| Mozambique | 4–5 | |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
| Eswatini | 0–3 | |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
| Mozambique | 1–2 | |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
|
| Eswatini | 0–0 | |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
| Mozambique | 0–1 | |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
|
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | +3 | 6 | Semi-finals | |
| 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 4 | −1 | 3 | ||
| 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 | −2 | 0 | ||
| 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Withdrew |
Madagascar was also drawn into this group but withdrew before playing. [4]
| Angola | 1–0 | |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 0 | +13 | 9 | Semi-finals | |
| 2 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4 | −2 | 3 | ||
| 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 9 | −5 | 3 | ||
| 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 9 | −6 | 3 |
| South Africa | 5–0 | |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
| Malawi | 2–3 | |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
| Pos | Grp | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | B | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 4 | −1 | 3 | Semi-finals | |
| 2 | A | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 3 | C | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 4 | −3 | 0 |
| Semi-finals | Final | |||||
| 3 October - Matola | ||||||
| 0 | ||||||
| 5 October - Matola | ||||||
| 1 | ||||||
| 2 | ||||||
| 3 October - Matola | ||||||
| 0 | ||||||
| 2 (5) | ||||||
| 2 (6) | ||||||
| Angola | 0–1 | |
|---|---|---|
|
| South Africa | 2–0 | |
|---|---|---|
There were 55 goals scored in 18 matches, for an average of 3.06 goals per match.
4 goals
3 goals
2 goals
1 goal
1 own goal