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Sports Reporter

COSAFA president, Philip Chiyangwa, believes the southern region football bloc has strategically tried to stay afloat during the pandemic by successfully hosting tournaments. 

He said this during the COSAFA annual meeting yesterday in South Africa. 

FIFA president, Gianni Infantino, was a special guest at the indaba. 

Despite the cancellation of the senior men’s COSAFA Championships last year due to a congested international programme due to Covid-19, the region’s organisers were able to host all other tournaments. 

They staged the men’s Under-17 and Under-20 tournaments in November and December while the women’s senior and Under-17 championships, were held in Port Elizabeth. 

Zimbabwe fielded teams in both the men and women tournaments. 

The Under-17 men’s team, the Young Warriors, were booted out after one match, when their player failed to pass the eligibility test. 

“This AGM comes at the back of a global pandemic and it is challenging times,” said Chiyangwa. 

“Covid has ravaged the beautiful game, preventing many players from playing football in this time. 

“As such we have strategised, and we have not failed, in 2020 we held four consecutive tournaments over a span of six weeks, thanks to Dr Danny Jordaan (SAFA president). 

“I must also applaud the Minister, Mr Nathi Mthethwa, for his support of our tournaments in Nelson Mandela Bay at the end of last year.”

Speaking at the same indaba, Infantino called for unity in African football. 

“We all have to work for unity, to bring everyone in Africa together,” Infantino said. 

“I said this to you at the CAF congress. We are all FIFA, we have to work together to have a united Africa, for global football’s sake. Africa needs to start to get back what it has given to world football,” he said. 

COSAFA have also created a new Ethics Board, which will act in line with FIFA and CAF statutes, while the executive committee will include, at least, one woman. 

Members also adopted the financial reports from the last fiscal year, as well as the budget for 2021, where COSAFA have set out an ambitious calendar to host as many as 10 tournaments.

This will include the addition of a Women’s Club Champions League, an exciting new chapter in COSAFA’s history. 

Tapping into the vision of the FIFA’s president, who is taking a keen development into women’s football, COSAFA will play a vital supporting role and have introduced a regional women’s Champions League. 

It will serve as a zonal qualifier, for the inaugural CAF Women’s Champions League, scheduled to start later this year. 

COSAFA have since indicated they will roll out the tournament between May and August, starting with the preliminaries. 

Black Rhinos Queens were the last team to win the local league before football went into lockdown. They are expected to represent Zimbabwe when the inaugural tournament gets underway.