COSAFA U-17 Youth Championship

The COSAFA U-17 Youth Championship, also known as the COSAFA U-17 Men's Championship, is an international youth football championship organised by COSAFA for the men's under-17 national teams of Southern Africa.

South Africa and Zambia are the most successful teams in this competition, having won three titles each. The Junior Chipolopolo are the current champions.^[1]

Established in 1994, the first regional under-17 championship was held in South Africa, featuring nine teams, and was won by the host nation's Amajimbos.^[2] The competition would not be held again for another seven years, returning in 2001 in Malawi, with Blantyre and Lilongwe serving as host cities. Malawi emerged victorious on home soil, defeating the defending champions South Africa 3–0 in the final.^[2] In the following year's edition, the number of participants dropped to four, with a round-robin format. South Africa went on to be crowned champions, claiming their second title.^[3] again the tournament went on a haitus for five years and returned in 2007, with 10 teams participating, Zimbabwe claimed their first title by defeating two-time champions South Africa in a penalty shootout.^[4] After a nine-year absence, the tournament was revived in 2016 and has been held annually since then. Hosted in Mauritius, Namibia became the fourth team to lift the trophy, defeating the most successful team at the time, South Africa in a penalty shootout.^[5] The following year, Zambia joined the list of winning teams by defeating host nation Mauritius 3–0 in the final.^[6] In 2018, the tournament became the regional qualifier for the continental U-17 Africa Cup of Nations. Angola won their first trophy and along with South Africa qualified for the continental finals.^[7]

The format of the tournament has varied across editions, depending on the number of teams participating. When fewer than six teams entered, the tournament typically followed a single round-robin format, with an optional final between the top two teams. If six or more teams participated, the competition was held in two stages: a group stage with a single round-robin format, where each team played against the others in their group, with the top four teams across all groups advancing to the semi-finals. A final and a third-place match were then held, though the third-place match was removed starting in 2024.

The competition is open to all 14 COSAFA members, as well as the COSAFA associate member, Réunion. Similar to other COSAFA tournaments, The competition was previously open to CECAFA members, who were invited to participate when the tournament did not serve as a qualifier for the finals.

• 2024 Bronze Shared

Legend:

• 1st – Champion
• 2nd – 2nd
• 3rd – 3rd
• 4th – 4th
• SF – Semi-finalists
• QF – Quarter finals
• GS – Group stage
• P – Participating in the upcoming tournament.
• DQ – Disqualified
•  ••  – Entered but withdrew
•  •  – Did not enter
•  ×  – Banned by FIFA/ Entry not accepted by COSAFA
• — Country not affiliated to COSAFA