Fungai Muderere
AFTER playing a total of 55 matches in the Cosafa Cup, defending champions Zimbabwe have scored 99 goals the most by any side in the history of the annual contest.
As if that is not enough the Warriors have won the cup a record six times after their back-to-back triumphs in 2017 and 2018, when they defeated Zambia in the final on both occasions (3-1 and 4-2).
Chipolopolo and South Africa have four wins each, Angola three and Namibia have a single triumph.
Five southern African sides Zimbabwe Angola, Madagascar, Namibia and South Africa will use the 2019 Cosafa Cup that will be played in Durban as preparation for the Africa Cup of Nations finals in Egypt.
The 2019 Cosafa Cup is scheduled to get underway on 25 May, with the final to be played on 8 June.
We take a deeper look into the Cosafa Cup in numbers.
1 — Namibia’s triumph at the 2015 Cosafa Cup was their first in the competition and made them just the fifth country to lift the title in all. They also had a ‘first’ in 2016 when they hosted the tournament for the first time.
1 — The South African coastal city of Durban will play host to the Cosafa Cup for the first time, with the eThekwini Municipality using their world-class facilities to stage the competition.
South Africa have hosted four of the last five Cosafa Cup tournaments.
5 — The disproportionately high number of own goals scored in Malawi’s favour in their Cosafa Cup history, three times by Angola once by Zimbabwe (Maxwell Nyamupanedengu) and once by Namibia
Malawi did not manage a goal in any of their matches in 2017.
6 — Aside from their four tournament wins, Zambia have also finished runners-up on six occasions, more than any other nation. Four of those runners-up medals came between 2004 and 2009, before they also picked up a silver medal in 2017 and 2018. They will be desperate to go one better in Durban this year!
6 — The number of goals scored by Zimbabwe forward Ovidy Karuru at the 2017 Cosafa Cup, which saw him finish as top-scorer at the tournament and also claim the record for the most goals in a single tournament.
6 — The Comoros Islands have featured in just two Cosafa Cup tournaments, in 2008 and 2009. In that time they have played six matches, with one victory, a draw and four defeats. Their only win was 2-1 against Seychelles in 2009. They return for a third competition in 2018.
7 — The Seychelles stunned Mauritius 7-0 in the 2008 Cosafa Cup, which remains to this day the biggest ever margin of victory in the competition. It also remains the only ever victory for the island nation in the competition, having played 22 games so far.
9 — The number of nations that appeared in the first ever Cosafa Cup.
There will be 14 at this year’s event in Durban.
12 — The number of matches it took before Zambia finally lost a Cosafa Cup match. The team won the first two competitions were eventually beaten 1-0 by Angola in 1999.
15 — The age of Angolan goalkeeper Eduardo Bunga when he played in the 2016 Cosafa Cup!
37 — The number of wins managed by Zimbabwe in their Cosafa Cup history, more than any other country.
