2021 COSAFA Cup

2021 COSAFA Cup

Tournament details
Host country	South Africa
City	Port Elizabeth
Dates	6–18 July[1]
Teams	11
Venue(s)	2 (in 1 host city)
Final positions
Champions	South Africa (5th title)
Runners-up	Senegal
Third place	Eswatini
Fourth place	Mozambique
Tournament statistics
Matches played	24
Goals scored	53 (2.21 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Sepana Letsoalo (4 goals)
Best player(s)	Siyethemba Sithebe
Best goalkeeper	Veli Mothwa (5 Clean Sheets)
← 2019 2020 2022 →

The 2021 COSAFA Cup was the 20th edition of the COSAFA Cup, an international football competition consisting of national teams of member nations of the Council of Southern Africa Football Associations (COSAFA). It took place on 6–18 July 2021.^[2]

Zambia is the defending champion, having defeated Botswana, 1–0, in the previous edition's final on 8 June 2019.^[3]

National team	FIFA Ranking (27 May 2021)[4]	Best Performance
Eswatini	154	Semi-finals (1999, 2002, 2003, 2021)
Madagascar (withdrew)	100	Third Place (2015)
Zimbabwe	107	Champions (2002, 2003, 2005, 2009, 2017, 2018)
Comoros (withdrew)[5]	131	Group stage
Lesotho	146	Runner-Up (2000)
Senegal (Invited guest)	22	Debut
Botswana	150	Runner-Up (2016, 2019)
Malawi	115	Runner-Up (2002, 2003)
Zambia	87	Champions (1997, 1998, 2006, 2013, 2019)
Mozambique	117	Runner-Up (2008, 2015)
Namibia	111	Champions (2015)
South Africa	75	Champions (2002, 2007, 2008, 2016)

Matches will held at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium and Wolfson Stadium in Port Elizabeth, South Africa.

Port Elizabeth	Port Elizabeth	Port Elizabeth
Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium		Wolfson Stadium
Capacity: 42,486		Capacity: 10,000

The draw for the 2021 COSAFA Cup was staged in host city Nelson Mandela Bay on Thursday, June 17, 2021.^[6]

Group A	Group B
South Africa  Eswatini  Zambia  Botswana  Lesotho	Senegal  Mozambique  Namibia  Malawi  Zimbabwe

Tiebreakers

Teams are ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss), and if tied on points, the following tiebreaking criteria are applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings (Regulations Article 9.3)

1. Points in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
2. Goal difference in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
3. Goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
4. If more than two teams are tied, and after applying all head-to-head criteria above, a subset of teams are still tied, all head-to-head criteria above are reapplied exclusively to this subset of teams;
5. Goal difference in all group matches;
6. Goals scored in all group matches;
7. Penalty shoot-out if only two teams are tied and they met in the last round of the group;
8. Disciplinary points (yellow card = 1 point, red card as a result of two yellow cards = 3 points, direct red card = 3 points, yellow card followed by direct red card = 4 points);
9. Drawing of lots.

• All matches will be held at Port Elizabeth
• Time listed are UTC+2:00

Key to colour in group tables
	Group Winners and Runners-up advance to the Semi-finals

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	South Africa (H)	4	3	1	0	6	0	+6	10	Semi-finals
2	Eswatini	4	2	1	1	5	3	+2	7
3	Zambia	4	1	1	2	3	4	−1	4
4	Botswana	4	1	1	2	6	4	+2	4
5	Lesotho	4	1	0	3	3	12	−9	3

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Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Senegal	4	3	0	1	6	4	+2	9	Semi-finals
2	Mozambique	4	2	1	1	3	1	+2	7
3	Namibia	4	2	1	1	5	3	+2	7
4	Malawi	4	0	2	2	4	7	−3	2
5	Zimbabwe	4	0	2	2	3	6	−3	2

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• In the knockout stage, extra-time and a penalty shoot-out will be used to decide the winner if necessary.

	Semi-finals				Final
	16 July – Port Elizabeth
	Senegal (p)	2 (3)
					18 July – Port Elizabeth
	Eswatini	2 (0)
					Senegal	0 (4)
	16 July – Port Elizabeth
					South Africa (p)	0 (5)
	South Africa	3
	Mozambique	0
					Third place match
					18 July– Port Elizabeth
					Eswatini (p)	1 (4)
					Mozambique	1 (2)

There were 53 goals scored in 24 matches, for an average of 2.21 goals per match.

4 goals

3 goals

2 goals

1 goal

1 own goal

• Official site