The draw for the 2016 COSAFA Castle Cup will take place on Thursday night as the 14 competing nations in this year’s Southern African championship learn their fate.
The draw will be broadcast live on SuperSport’s popular Soccer Africa magazine show on channel 204 from 21h30, and will also be carried across COSAFA’s social media platforms on Twitter (@COSAFAMEDIA) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/COSAFAMEDIA).
Only the Comoros Islands have opted not to compete from among the COSAFA nations and have been replaced by 2016 African Nations Championship winners and 2015 African Nations Cup bronze medalists the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The Congolese add to an already outstanding field that includes four-time winners Zambia and Zimbabwe, three-time champions Angola and South Africa, as well as holders Namibia, who will host the June 11-25 event.
The format of the competition will be the same as in South Africa last year with the eight lowest positioned sides according to the April 2016 FIFA World Rankings taking part in the first round, where they will be split into two groups each containing four teams.
The one proviso to this is that Namibia have been given a bye into the quarterfinals as holders of the trophy that they won at the 2015 COSAFA Castle Cup.
Of those teams, Malawi, Angola, Zimbabwe and Swaziland will be seeded, with Madagascar, Lesotho, Mauritius and Seychelles making up the rest of the first round field.
The top team in each pool will advance to the quarterfinals, where they will be joined by the six higher ranked teams – DR Congo, South Africa, Zambia, Botswana, Mozambique and Namibia.
There is no seeding for this stage of the competition, creating the potential for some heavyweight clashes.
There will also once again be a Plate competition for those teams who are knocked out at the quarterfinal stage to ensure they have the opportunity to play more than one match.
Malawi took the Plate in South Africa 12 months ago when they defeated Zambia 1-0 in the final.
The scheduling of the COSAFA Castle Cup this year allows teams to bring their strongest possible squads as the tournament will be played directly after the latest round of African Nations Cup qualifiers in June.
The COSAFA Castle Cup was first played in 1997 and has become one of the top regional competitions in the world having helped developed some of Southern Africa’s leading stars over the past two decades.
The likes of Collin Benjamin (Namibia), Teko Modise (South Africa), Manucho (Angola), Collins Mbesuma (Zambia) and Dipsy Selolwane (Botswana), among many others, all got their big break in international football through the COSAFA Castle Cup.
This year will also see a trophy tour the length and breadth of Namibia as well as a 24-hour 5-a-side football match played June 4-5 at Football for Hope Centre, Katatura.
The COSAFA Castle Cup Trophy Tour will begin its journey in southern Namibia city of Keetmanshoop from May 7-9 where fans will get to enjoy great activations from Castle Lager and also get to meet some legends of Namibian and Southern African football who are ambassadors for this year’s competition.
The next stop will be the coastal city of Swakopmund on May 14-16 where there will be more fun and festivities for fans to enjoy.
The roadshow moves on to Oshakati in the far north of the country from May 21-23, before it ends in Rundu between May 28-30.
TEAMS ENTERING THE FIRST ROUND
Malawi (seeded)
Angola (seeded)
Zimbabwe (seeded)
Swaziland (seeded)
Madagascar
Lesotho
Mauritius
Seychelles
 
TEAMS ENTERING THE QUARTERFINALS
DR Congo
South Africa
Zambia
Botswana
Mozambique
Namibia (holders)