The COSAFA Cup kicks off on the 25th of May and teams from around Africa will assemble in Durban for this years spectacle. Check out the South African team profile.
Established: 1991
Affiliated to FIFA: 1992
Affiliated to CAF: 1992
Honours:
1996 African Nations Cup Winners
1997 Afro-Asian nations cup winners
2002, 2007, 2008, 2016 COSAFA cup winners
Biggest Win: South Africa 6-0 Seychelles (13 October 2018)
Biggest Defeat: South Africa 0-5 Brazil (5 march 2014)
Biggest Win in COSAFA Cup: South Africa 5-1 Swaziland (22 June 2016)
Biggest defeat in COSAFA Cup: Mauritius 2-0 South Africa (10 January 2004)
Leading scorers in the COSAFA Cup:
Pollen Ndlanya, Patrick Mayo, Katlego Mphela, Teko Modise, Gift Motupa, Lebohang Maboe – 3 goals
History summary:
South Africa are one of only two COSAFA member countries to have won the African Nations Cup title, doing so on home soil at their first attempt in 1996. Zambia joined them with their 2012 success.
South Africa reached the final of COSAFA Cup for the first time in 2002, winning the trophy with a 4-1 aggregate triumph over Malawi in the two-legged final. After more barren years, they claimed the back-to-back tournaments, beating old foes Zambia on penalties in the final in 2007, and running out victorious in 2008, despite fielding an unofficial ‘President’s XI’ line-up that included players mostly from the second tier of South African football.
They repeated that squad mix in Zimbabwe in 2009, but ended up finishing fourth after losing to Mozambique in the third-place playoff. They went one better with a third-place finish in Zambia in 2013, but were disappointing ousted by Botswana in the quarterfinals on home soil in 2015 and then lost in the Plate semifinals to Malawi.
They regained the title in Namibia in 2016, beating Botswana 3-2 in a thrilling final in Windhoek with a squad made up largely of players that would compete at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
The last two tournaments have seen them win the Plate competition after quarterfinal exits in the Cup bracket. They beat Namibia to the Plate in 2017 and Botswana to the trophy in 2018.
COSAFA CUP FINISHES
1997 – Did not enter
1998 – First round
1999 – Quarterfinals
2000 – Semifinals
2001 – Quarterfinals
2002 – Winners
2003 – Quarterfinals
2004 – First round
2005 – Semifinals
2006 – First round
2007 – Winners
2008 – Winners
2009 – Semifinals
2013 – Semifinals
2015 – Quarterfinals
2016 – Winners
2017 – Quarterfinals (Plate winners)
2018 – Quarterfinals (Plate winners)
| COSAFA CUP RESULT RECORD | ||||||
| P | W | D | L | F | A | |
| Home | 21 | 12 | 6 | 3 | 27 | 8 |
| Away | 23 | 12 | 7 | 4 | 34 | 17 |
| Total | 44 | 24 | 13 | 7 | 61 | 25 |
| P | W | D | L | F | A | |
| vs Angola | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| vs Botswana | 8 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 11 | 3 |
| vs eSwatini | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 2 |
| vs Lesotho | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 2 |
| vs Madagascar | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
| vs Malawi | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 2 |
| vs Mauritius | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 2 |
| vs Mozambique | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 1 |
| vs Namibia | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 11 | 6 |
| vs Seychelles | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| vs Tanzania | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| vs Zambia | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 2 |
| vs Zimbabwe | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
