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Cosafa announces new date for 2020 Women's Cup
The southern regional body has released an updated schedule for this year's women's competition
The 2020 Cosafa Women's Cup has been postponed to November in South Africa, the Council of Southern African Football Associations (Cosafa) has announced.
The annual regional showpiece, earlier set for October 19-31 in Nelson Mandela Bay, is now set to take place from November 3-14.
The event had earlier been postponed twice due to the coronavirus outbreak but the latest news comes in the wake of approval from the South Africa government.
The development means the women's event becomes the first to be staged in Africa since the coronavirus outbreak after the cancellation of the 2020 Africa Women's Cup of Nations in August.
According to Cosafa, the senior women's tournament will take place simultaneously with the U17 girls' championship from November 5-13.
"The 2020 Cosafa Women’s Championship is to take centre-stage in South Africa’s Nelson Mandela Bay from November 3-14 in what are expected to be the first women’s internationals staged on the African continent since the Covid-19 pandemic wreaked havoc with the football calendar," the Cosafa statement read.
"Cosafa also intends to stage its Women’s Under-17 Championship concurrently with the senior competition from November 5-13, providing some much-needed international competition in this crucial age-group."
Hosts South Africa will compete along with Angola, Botswana, Comoros Islands, Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe, while East African team Tanzania will participate as the guest nation.
The group stage draws for both championships will be held on October 20 and the eight participating teams will be split into two groups of four and they will challenge for a place in the semi-finals.
South Africa are defending champions of the tournament, having won a record sixth crown and third in a row following a 1-0 final victory over Zambia in August last year.
In the U17 category, the six teams to feature are Botswana, Comoros, Zambia, Zimbabwe as well as hosts South Africa, while Tanzania will also appear as the guests.
Guests Uganda were the winners of the maiden edition last year in Mauritius following a 2-1 victory over South Africa.
