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the world, sees scouts from around the world converge to spot the latest in talent from Southern Africa.

In 2018 there were scouts from clubs such as Manchester United and Lyon, while the competition was beamed across Africa via SuperSport.

The junior and women’s competitions have an even wider reach through Kwese Free Sports, with viewers from around the globe able to access the live match coverage through Facebook and YouTube.

Key sponsors down the years have included the likes of Castle Lager, who had a two-decade association with the senior championship, PPC, Metropolitan and Mopani Copper Mines (Glencore).

Botswana was elected to host the secretariat of COSAFA. This has been the case since 1992 when Ismail Bhamjee was elected the organisation’s president and Ashford Mamelodi assumed the role of secretary general.

In 2008, it was decided to open an administrative office in Johannesburg, which is led by current secretary general, Sue Destombes. The president of COSAFA is Dr Phillip Chiyangwa of Zimbabwe, who was elected in 2016.

The 14-member countries making up the organisation are Angola, Botswana, Comoros, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Reunion is an associate member of COSAFA.