COSAFA Cup

The **COSAFA Cup** is an annual tournament for teams from Southern Africa organized by Council of Southern Africa Football Associations (COSAFA), created after the ban against the Republic of South Africa had been lifted and the African Cup of Nations had been staged there in 1996.

## History

Angola, Botswana, Comoros, Eswatini (Swaziland), Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe have been in the tournament in the past. Additionally, seven non-COSAFA members have played: Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Senegal.

## Results

|rowspan="2" width="5%"|Year|rowspan="2" width="102"|Host|width="1%" rowspan="25"||colspan="3"|Final|width="1%" rowspan="25"||colspan="3"|Third Place Match|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|1997 _Details_|align=left|_Home/away_|****|||||||||
|1998 _Details_|align=left|_Home/away_|****|||||||||
|1999 _Details_|align=left|_Home/away_|****|**1–0** **1–1**||colspan=3|and|||||
|2000 _Details_|align=left|_Home/away_|****|**3–0** **3–0**||colspan=3|and|||||
|2001 _Details_|align=left|_Home/away_|****|**0–0** **1–0**|||**2–1**|||||
|2002 _Details_|align=left|_Home/away_|****|**3–1** **1–0**||colspan=3|and|||||
|2003 _Details_|align=left|_Home/away_|****|**2–1** **2–0**||colspan=3|and|||||
|2004 _Details_|align=left|_Various hosts_|****|**0–0** (5–4 pen.)||colspan=3|and|||||
|2005 _Details_|align=left||****|**1–0**||colspan=3|and|||||
|2006 _Details_|align=left|_Various hosts_|****|**2–0**||colspan=3|and|||||
|2007 _Details_|align=left||****|**0–0** (4–3 pen.)||colspan=3|and|||||
|2008 _Details_|align=left||****|**2–1**|||**2–0**|||||
|2009 _Details_|align=left||****|**3–1**|||**1–0**|||||
|_2010_|align=left|__|colspan="3"|_Cancelled_|colspan="3"|_Cancelled_||||||
|2013 _Details_|align=left||****|**2–0**|||**2–1**|||||
|2015 _Details_|align=left||****|**2–0**|||**2–1**|||||
|2016 _Details_|align=left||****|**3–2**|||**1–0**|||||
|2017 _Details_|align=left||****|**3–1**|||**0–0** (4–2 pen.)|||||
|2018 _Details_|align=left||****|**4–2**|||**1–0**|||||
|2019 _Details_|align=left||****|**1–0**|||**2–2** (5–4 pen.)|||||
|2021 _Details_|align=left||****|**0–0** (5–4 pen.)|||**1–1** (4–2 pen.)|||||
|2022 _Details_|align=left||****|**1–0**|||**1–1** (4–2 pen.)|||||
|2023 _Details_|align=left||****|**1–0**|||**0–0** (5–3 pen.)|||||
**' A round-robin tournament determined the final standings.

## Teams reaching the top four

|width=110|Team|style="background-color:gold;"|Winners|style="background-color:silver;"|Runners-up|style="background-color:#cc9966;"|Third Place|style="background-color:#9acdff;"|Fourth Place|style="background-color:#81c846;"|Semi-finalists|style="background-color:#F08080"|Top 4 Finishes|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
||bgcolor=gold|7 (1997, 1998, 2006, 2013, 2019, 2022, 2023)|bgcolor=silver|6 (2004, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2017, 2018)|bgcolor=cc9966|1 (2008)|bgcolor=#9acdff|1 (2001)|bgcolor=#81c846|3 (1999, 2002, 2003)|align=center|19||
||bgcolor=gold|6 (2000, 2003, 2005, 2009, 2017, 2018)|bgcolor=silver|3 (1998, 2001, 2013)|bgcolor=cc9966|1 (2019)||bgcolor=#81c846|2 (2004, 2006)|align=center|12|||
||bgcolor=gold|5 (2002, 2007, 2008, 2016, 2021)||bgcolor=cc9966|2 (2013, 2023)|bgcolor=#9acdff|1 (2009)|bgcolor=#81c846|2 (2000, 2005)|align=center|10|||
||bgcolor=gold|3 (1999, 2001, 2004)|bgcolor=silver|1 (2006)|bgcolor=cc9966|1 (1998)||bgcolor=#81c846|2 (2000, 2005)|align=center|7|||
||bgcolor=gold|1 (2015)|bgcolor=silver|3 (1997, 1999, 2022)||bgcolor=#9acdff|1 (1998)||align=center|5||||
|||bgcolor=silver|2 (2008, 2015)|bgcolor=cc9966|2 (1997, 2009)|bgcolor=#9acdff|2 (2021, 2022)|bgcolor=#81c846|2 (2004, 2007)|align=center|8|||
|||bgcolor=silver|2 (2002, 2003)|bgcolor=cc9966|1 (2001)|bgcolor=#9acdff|1 (2023)||align=center|4||||
|||bgcolor=silver|2 (2016, 2019)||bgcolor=#9acdff|1 (2015)|bgcolor=#81c846|2 (2006, 2007)|align=center|5||||
|||bgcolor=silver|2 (2000, 2023)|bgcolor=cc9966|1 (2018)|bgcolor=#9acdff|3 (2013, 2017, 2019)||align=center|6||||
|||bgcolor=silver|1 (2021)|bgcolor=cc9966|1 (2022)|||align=center|2|||||
||||bgcolor=cc9966|2 (2016, 2021)||bgcolor=#81c846|3 (1999, 2002, 2003)|align=center|5|||||
||||bgcolor=cc9966|1 (2015)|bgcolor=#9acdff|2 (2008, 2018)||align=center|3|||||
||||bgcolor=cc9966|1 (2017)|bgcolor=#9acdff|1 (1997)||align=center|2|||||
|||||bgcolor=#9acdff|1 (2016)||align=center|1||||||

## Participating nations

- Legend

- – Champions
- – Runners-up
- – Third place
- – Fourth place
- 5th – Fifth place

- – Semi-finals
- QF – Quarter-finals
- GS – Group stage
- 1R – First round
- 2R – Second round

- Q – Qualified
-  — Hosts
- <span style="border:1px solid gray"> – </span> – Did not enter
- <span style="border:1px solid gray"> **––''' </span> – Withdrew before qualification / Banned

|style="width:150px;"|Team|1997|1998|1999|2000|2001|2002|2003|2004|2005|2006|2007|2008|2009|bgcolor=#F08080|_2010_<sup>2</sup>|2013|2015|2016|2017|2018|2019|2021|2022|2023|Total|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|align=left||–|**3rd**|**1st**|**SF**|**1st**|QF|1R|**1st**|**SF**|**2nd**|1R|QF|QF|x|QF|–|GS|GS|GS|**––**<sup>1</sup>|–|GS|GS|||
|align=left||1R|1R|2R|1R|1R|1R|QF|QF|1R|**SF**|**SF**|QF|QF|x|GS|**4th**|**2nd**|QF|QF|**2nd**|GS|QF|GS|||
|align=left||–|–|–|–|–|–|–|–|–|–|–|GS|GS|x|–|–|–|–|GS|QF|**––**<sup>1</sup>|GS|GS|||
|align=left||1R|1R|**SF**|QF|QF|**SF**|**SF**|QF|1R|1R|1R|GS|GS|x|GS|GS|**3rd**|QF|QF|GS|**3rd**||GS|||
|align=left||1R|1R|QF|**2nd**|QF|1R|1R|1R|1R|1R|1R|GS|GS|x|**4th**|GS|QF|**4th**|**3rd**|**4th**|GS|GS|**2nd**|||
|align=left||–|–|–|**––**|–|QF|QF|1R|1R|1R|1R|**4th**|**––**<sup>1</sup>|x|–|**3rd**|GS|GS|**4th**|–|**––**<sup>1</sup>||–|||
|align=left||**5th**|1R|2R|QF|**SF**|**2nd**|**2nd**|QF|1R|1R|1R|GS|QF|x|QF|QF|GS|GS|GS|QF|GS|GS|**4th**|||
|align=left||–|–|–|1R|QF|1R|1R|QF|1R|1R|1R|GS|GS|x|GS|GS|GS|GS|GS|GS|–|GS|GS|||
|align=left||**3rd**|**5th**|QF|1R|1R|QF|QF|**SF**|1R|1R|**SF**|**2nd**|**3rd**|x|QF|**2nd**|QF|GS|GS|GS|**4th**|**4th**|GS|||
|align=left||**2nd**|**4th**|**2nd**|QF|1R|1R|1R|1R|1R|1R|1R|QF|QF|x|QF|**1st**|QF|QF|QF|GS|GS|**2nd**|GS|||
|align=left||–|–|–|**––**|–|–|–|–|1R|1R|1R|GS|GS|x|GS|GS|GS|GS|GS|GS|–|GS|GS|||
|align=left||–|1R|QF|**SF**|QF|**1st**|QF|1R|**SF**|1R|**1st**|**1st**|**4th**|x|**3rd**|QF|**1st**|QF|QF|QF|**1st**|QF|**3rd**|||
|align=left||**1st**|**1st**|**SF**|QF|**SF**|**SF**|**SF**|**2nd**|**2nd**|**1st**|**2nd**|**3rd**|**2nd**|x|**1st**|QF|QF|**2nd**|**2nd**|**1st**|GS|**1st**|**1st**|||
|align=left||1R|**2nd**|QF|**1st**|**2nd**|QF|**1st**|**SF**|**1st**|**SF**|1R|QF|**1st**|x|**2nd**|GS|GS|**1st**|**1st**|**3rd**|GS|–|–|||
|align=left|<sup>*</sup>|–|–|–|–|–|–|–|–|–|–|–|–|–|–|–|–|**4th**|–|–|–|–|–|–|||
|align=left|<sup>*</sup>|–|–|–|–|–|–|–|–|–|–|–|–|–|–|**––**<sup>1</sup>|–|–|–|–|–|–|–|–|||
|<sup>*</sup>|–|–|–|–|–|–|–|–|–|–|–|–|–|–|–|QF|–|–|–|–|–|–|–||||
|align=left|<sup>*</sup>|–|–|–|–|–|–|–|–|–|–|–|–|–|–|GS|–|–|–|–|–|–|–|–|||
|align=left|<sup>*</sup>|–|–|–|–|–|–|–|–|–|–|–|–|–|–|–|–|–|–|–|–|**2nd**|**3rd**|–|||
|align=left|<sup>*</sup>|**4th**|–|–|–|–|–|–|–|–|–|–|–|–|–|**––**<sup>1</sup>|GS|–|**3rd**|–|–|–|–|–|||
|align=left|<sup>*</sup>|–|–|–|–|–|–|–|–|–|–|–|–|–|–|–|–|–|–|–|QF|–|–|–|||
<small><sup>*</sup>D.R. Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Senegal are not COSAFA members, but have been invited to participate in the past.</small>

<small><sup>1</sup> Withdrew from tournament.</small>

<small><sup>2</sup> Tournament not played.</small>

## Summary (1997–2022)

COSAFA Cup invitees are included in the table with blue.

|Rank||width=250|Team||Part||M||W||D||L||GF||GA||GD||Points|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|1|align=left|21|63|32|22|10|93|48|+45|**117**||||||||||||
|2|align=left|20|59|34|17|8|100|49|+51|**113**||||||||||||
|3|align=left|20|55|30|19|6|77|29|+48|**109**||||||||||||
|4|align=left|21|59|23|17|19|76|62|+14|**86**||||||||||||
|5|align=left|21|61|19|15|24|59|70|-11|**75**||||||||||||
|6|align=left|21|53|20|16|17|65|57|+8|**73**||||||||||||
|7|align=left|17|43|18|15|12|47|37|+10|**68**||||||||||||
|8|align=left|21|59|16|20|23|61|71|-10|**68**||||||||||||
|9|align=left|21|51|15|17|19|52|50|+2|**62**||||||||||||
|10|align=left|21|53|14|15|24|50|74|-24|**57**||||||||||||
|11|align=left|12|36|14|8|14|39|38|+1|**50**||||||||||||
|12|align=left|18|40|8|8|24|25|57|-32|**32**||||||||||||
|13|align=left|6|18|4|3|11|14|28|-14|**15**||||||||||||
|14|align=left|13|19|1|6|27|19|64|-45|**9**||||||||||||
|15|align=left|2|9|3|4|2|13|12|+1|**13**||||||||||||
|16|align=left|3|13|2|6|5|10|15|-5|**12**||||||||||||
|17|align=left|1|3|1|1|1|1|1|0|**4**||||||||||||
|18|align=left|1|2|0|0|2|1|5|-4|**0**||||||||||||
|19|align=left|1|3|1|1|1|5|4|+1|**4**||||||||||||
|20|align=left|1|2|0|2|0|1|1|0|**2**||||||||||||
|21|align=left|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|**0**||||||||||||

## Top scorers

Peter Ndlovu of Zimbabwe and  Manuel 'Tico-Tico' Bucuane of Mozambique are all-time top goalscorers in the tournament with ten goals each. In 2021 Felix Badenhorst of Eswatini moved into second position with nine goals.

|Year|Player|Goals||
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
|1998|Tauya Mrewa  Peter Ndlovu  Shepherd Muradzikwa  Benjamin Nkonjera|align=center|2|
|1999|Betinho|align=center|3|
|2000|Luke Petros  Delron Buckley|align=center|2|
|2001|18 players tied|align=center|1|
|2002|Mfanzile Dlamini  Rotson Kilambe  Teboho Mokoena  Siza Dlamini  Patrick Mayo|align=center|2|
|2003|Peter Ndlovu  Noel Mwandila  Russel Mwafulirwa|align=center|2|
|2004|Peter Ndlovu|align=center|3|
|2005|Collins Mbesuma|align=center|4|
|2006|Fabrice Akwa|align=center|3|
|2007|Paulin Voavy|align=center|3|
|2008|Phillip Zialor|align=center|4|
|2009|Cuthbert Malajila|align=center|4|
|2013|Jerome Ramatlhakwane|align=center|4|
|2015|Sarivahy Vombola|align=center|5|
|2016|Felix Badenhorst|align=center|5|
|2017|Ovidy Karuru|align=center|6|
|2018|Onkabetse Makgantai|align=center|5|
|2019|Gabadinho Mhango  Gerald Phiri Jr.  Ashley Nazira|align=center|3|
|2021|Sepana Letsoalo|align=center|4|
|2022|Sabelo Ndzinisa|align=center|3|

## References

Kabelo

## Other websites

- Official site
- COSAFA Cup at RSSSF

## Infobox (football tournament)

- **organiser**: Council of Southern Africa Football Associations, COSAFA
- **founded**: 1997
- **region**: Southern Africa
- **number of teams**: 14
- **current champions**:
(7th title)
- **most successful team**:
(7 titles)
- **current**: 2023 COSAFA Cup