Namibia Schools Sports Union (NSSU) national coordinator, Solly Duiker, says his organisation will be sending a team to participate in the inaugural Council of Southern African Football Associations (COSAFA) Schools Cup scheduled for Durban from 22 October to 06 November 2022.

Speaking to Nampa on Wednesday, Duiker said the tournament has been assigned to the NSSU by the Ministry of Sport, Youth and National Service, the Namibia Football Association and the Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture.

“We just received the information today. We have not sat down to discuss this, but we will select a team (not a school) to represent Namibia,” he said.

This follows the announcement by COSAFA on Tuesday via a press statement that the competition will be used as a regional qualifier for the Confederation of African Football Schools Champions Cup, which will see teams from all over Africa compete.

COSAFA also announced a busy schedule for the second half of the 2022 calendar year, with several men and women’s tournaments lined up for Durban and Eswatini.

The flagship COSAFA Cup (men’s tournament) will kick off a busy six months when it is staged from 5 to 17 July in Durban.

It will be followed by the Women’s COSAFA Champions League, which will be held from 04 to 14 August in the same city.

Next up will be the COSAFA Women’s Championship, which is to be staged from 31 August to 11 September in Durban as well.

The COSAFA Beach Soccer Championship will be next for a second successive year from 17 to 25 September in Durban.

Action will then shift to Eswatini, where the COSAFA Men’s Under-20 Championship will be staged from 06 to 16 October.

The tournament serves as a qualifier for the 2023 Africa Under-20 Cup of Nations that is scheduled to begin in Egypt in February next year.

The top two teams in Eswatini will advance to the continental finals.

The COSAFA Under-17 Boys’ and Girls’ Championships will close out the year and are scheduled to run concurrently from 30 November to 10 December in Durban.

The boys’ event will be a qualifier for the 2023 CAF Under-17 Africa Cup of Nations that is scheduled to be played in Algeria next year.

“This is another bumper year of tournaments, which includes not only our flagship men’s and women’s senior championships but also four competitions that serve as qualifiers for continental events,” COSAFA General Secretary, Sue Destombes, was quoted as saying.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency