21 November 2019 – Defending champions South Africa go into the 2019 COSAFA Men’s Under-20 Championships among the favourites again and their statistics over the last three tournaments show just why.

The regional championship has been played annually for the last three years after having taken a break and in that time ‘Amajita’ have been the stand-out competitors. They have lifted the trophy on the last two occasions, and also reached the final in 2016 where they lost out to Zambia.

They have played 14 matches and have won 12 of those fixtures, only losing out to Zambia in the 2016 decider on home soil.

In that time they have netted an impressive 35 goals and conceded only five times, showing proficiency at both ends of the field.

This year’s hosts Zambia have the second best record, despite mixed performances in the last three years where they claimed the title in 2016, failed to get out of their pool in 2017 and then finished fourth last year.

They have won eight of their 13 matches, with three defeats, the first of which came against East African guest nation Uganda in 2017. They have also averaged almost two goals per game and conceded 10 times.

The only other sides with three or more wins in the last three years are Angola, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, and guest nations DR Congo and Egypt.

In all there have been 17 different competitors in the last three years, with Madagascar the only full member of COSAFA that has not taken part in at least one competitions.

That will change in 2019 when they make a welcome return to the Under-20 showpiece.

COMBINED TEAM RECORDS FROM THE LAST THREE COSAFA UNDER-20 CHAMPIONSHIPS
The table is calculated on the number of wins, then the number of draws and finally goal-difference.

TEAM P W D L GF GA GD
South Africa 14 12 1 1 35 5 30
Zambia 13 8 2 3 23 10 13
Angola 13 4 5 4 14 12 2
Zimbabwe 10 4 4 2 12 12 0
Lesotho 11 3 4 4 7 12 -5
DR Congo* 8 3 2 3 8 7 1
Egypt* 5 3 0 2 7 4 3
Mozambique 9 2 4 3 7 8 -1
Mauritius 8 2 2 4 8 13 -5
Malawi 9 1 4 4 8 13 -5
Uganda* 5 1 3 1 6 6 0
Sudan* 3 1 1 1 6 2 4
Namibia 3 1 1 1 2 2 0
Botswana 6 1 1 4 2 12 -10
Swaziland 8 1 1 6 7 18 -11
Comoros 2 0 1 1 2 4 -2
Seychelles 3 0 0 3 0 11 -11

*Invited guests