26 September 2019 – South African rising star Jessica Wade believes that COSAFA is on the right track of empowering women’s football and that the future of the Southern African region is in good hands.

Wade who is the captain of the South African Women’s U-17 National Team, Bantwana, has had yet another prolific run thus far with a player of the match performance and four goals to her name.

She was also part of the South African U-17 squad that participated in the 2018 FIFA World Cup late last year, and also played a major role in the third place finish for Basetsana in the 2019 COSAFA U-20 Women’s Championships which took place in Port Elizabeth, South Africa this past August.

“We as development players are very grateful to the Council of Southern African Football (COSAFA) for initiating such a great tournament.

We are so inspired to play in international football because it is through regular participation with other nations that we can realize our full potential. Many of our players have now received their first international caps, which will ensure that we can perform better in continental and international competitions.

Our coach; Simphiwe Dludlu has designed a plan for us that will hopefully ensure that we qualify for the next FIFA World Cup, and give an even better performance than last year.

This COSAFA Women’s Championship is the first step to us reaching our objectives;”said Wade.

South Africa will face Zambia in the semi finals of the COSAFA U-17 Women’s Championships tomorrow afternoon at 15h00 local time, where they will be in search for a ticket to the finals of this inaugural tournament.

“We are looking forward to facing a feisty Zambia in the semi finals. They are always great competitive side to play.

I believe our group stages matched went well. We managed to score 28 goals in our opening match against Seychelles, which really helped us gain the needed confidence to grow into the tournament. Our second match against Botswana was a bit tougher.

They tested us in every area and we managed to come away with the 5-1 win, conceding our first goal. We could have done much better in our last match against Madagascar however the plan that the technical team implemented worked and we managed to finish top of group B;” says Wade.