Cosafa crafts a new calendar
Six competitions cleared for 2020
Mtshazox@sundayworld.co.za
With world football hit hard by the spread of the novel Coronavirus pandemic, which saw sport globally come to a screeching halt, the Council of Southern African Football Association (Cosafa) has released a revised list of its competitions calendar and programme.
The move comes as many countries start opening up non-contact sport to start their competitions.
In South Africa, this has been necessitated by government and the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture under Minister Nathi Mthethwa giving contact sport, in this case football, the green light to start training in adherence to strict Coronavirus rules, regulations and protocol.
Cosafa, the regional football governing body confirmed in a statement that it had updated the 2020 programme.
Cosafa general secretary Sue Destombes said the soccer body was due to host six competitions this year, including senior national teams, Under-20 and Under-17 tournaments for both men and women. But it is looking increasingly more challenging as the months roll on, it said in a statement.
Uncertainty remains over cross-border travel between Cosafa countries, it said, noting that it was hopeful that some, if not all, will be played.
“We have been engaging with the football associations of Malawi and Mauritius regarding their continued hosting of the men’s Under-17 and Under-20 qualifiers this year and are fairly confident in this regard.
“We await proposed dates from Malawi, which they are considering taking cognizance of the school calendar, as well as the approval by government to resume domestic football according to the plan put forward.
“In terms of the Under-20 qualifiers in Mauritius, we have received a verbal confirmation that, subject to the country’s COVID-19 status remaining as is and their borders reopening next month, the tournament will continue as planned in December 2020.”
She said they are hopeful of hosting senior competitions for men and women this year still, but much also depends on finding space in the calendar and the availability of travel.
“As regards the Cosafa Cup and senior women’s tournaments, which are both planned to take place in South Africa, this is a “wait and see” at the moment. We await further developments and the easing of the lockdown regulations, particularly the reopening of the borders by the government.”
There is also an Under-20 women’s tournament that is planned, but is dependent on the Region 5 Games going ahead in Lesotho.
“The Under-20 women [tournament] is scheduled to take place in Lesotho and we await the final decision by the Region 5 executive council as to whether the 2020 Games will proceed as planned in December 2020, or whether the event will be postponed.”
One competition that has been put on ice for now is the Women’s Under-17 Championship that was scheduled for Mauritius in April, though Destombes remains hopeful an alternative date and venue can be found.
“We can confirm that the Under-17 women’s tournament originally scheduled for April in Mauritius has been postponed, new dates and host country [is yet] to be confirmed,” said Destombes.