Zambia, South Africa and Lesotho seeded for COSAFA Under-20

The 2018 COSAFA Under-20 Championships
will be held in Kitwe, Zambia in December...

Hosts Zambia, defending champions South Africa and last years’ runners-up Lesotho will be the three seeded sides in Wednesday’s pool stage draw for the 2018 Mopani Copper Mines COSAFA Under-20 Championships.

The draw will be held in the host city of Kitwe, Zambia ahead of the tournament set for December 2 to 14.

The three seeded sides will head pools A, B and C with Zambia claiming position A1 in Group A, South Africa taking B1 in Group B and Lesotho penned in for C1 in Group C.

The remaining nine sides will be placed in two pots based on their ranking according to their performance at last year’s COSAFA Under-20 Championships.

Malawi, Zimbabwe, Namibia and Swaziland will be placed in Pot 1, with Mozambique, Mauritius, Angola, Botswana and newcomers Reunion in Pot 2.

Each group will have four nations with only the top team in each pool and the best-placed runner-up set to advance to the semi-finals.

The winner of Group B will take on the best-placed runner-up in the semi-finals, while the top two sides in Groups A and C will face-off in the knockout stage.

The format is the same as last year, when East African guest nation Uganda topped Group A. South Africa won Group B while the Makoanyane XI were the winners of Group C. North African guest nation Egypt advanced from Group B as the best-placed runner-up with six points before falling to Amajita in the semis while Lesotho overcame Uganda.

2018 Mopani Copper Mines COSAFA Under-20 Championships draw:

Seeded Teams:

Group A – Zambia (host country)

Group B – South Africa (winners in 2017)

Group C – Lesotho (runners-up in 2017)

Pot 1

Malawi, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Swaziland

Pot 2

Mozambique, Mauritius, Angola, Reunion, Botswana