B-Metro
Fungai Muderere
The boys’ and girls’ football competitions at the Region 5 Games Maseru 2020 kick off next week in what promises to be a thrilling festival of youth football.
The competitions will be run by COSAFA, and as such a handy guide as to the regulations of the tournaments has been put into place. The ninth edition of the Region 5 Youth Games is scheduled to run from 3 to 12 December.
QUALIFICATION OF PLAYERS
All players in the boys’ and girls’ competitions must have been born between January 1, 2005, and December 31, 2007. In accordance with CAF regulations, boys participating in the competition are subject to MRI scans in order to verify eligibility. Each squad will be limited to 20 players.
GROUP STAGE
Teams will get three points for a win, one for a draw and zero for a loss. The top two teams in each pool will advance to the semifinals in the boys’ competition. The girls’ tournament has just a single pool, and so at the end of the group stage, the team that finishes first will take on the fourth-placed side in the semifinals, and second will meet third.
If two teams are equal on points, their ranking will be determined as follows:
- a) Greater number of points obtained in the matches between the teams concerned (i.e head-to-head)
- b) Goals difference in all group matches
- c) Greater number of goals scored in all the groups’ matches between the teams concerned
- d) Goals difference in all group matches
- e) Drawing of lots by the COSAFA Organising Committee.
In case of equality between three or more teams at the end of the group matches, the teams will be ranked according to the following criteria in the order listed below:
- a) The greatest number of points obtained in the matches between the teams concerned
- b) The goal difference in the matches between the teams concerned
- c) The greatest number of goals scored in the matches between the teams concerned
- d) If after applying criteria a to c, two teams are still equal, a to c criteria are again applied to matches played between the two teams in question to determine the final ranking of the two teams. If this procedure does not allow classifying them, the criteria listed below will be applied in the indicated order:
- e) The goals difference in all group matches
- f) The highest number of goals scored in all group matches
- g) A drawing of lots conducted by the Organizing Committee
STRAIGHT TO PENALTIES
In the event of a draw at the end of the regulation time in the semifinals or final, penalty kicks shall be taken to determine the winner. No extra-time shall be played in any of the knock-out matches.
SUBSTITUTIONS
Five substitutes may take part in a match, but they may only enter at a maximum of three intervals during a game. Therefore, teams may not make substitutions at four separate occasions.
DISCIPLINE
A player who has received two cautions in the tournament will be suspended from playing the next match of his/her team in the competition. A player expelled from the field of play by the referee will be suspended from playing the next match.
Yellow cards fall away at the completion of the group stage, except that if a player receives his/her second caution in the last match of the group phase, when the resulting suspension will carry over to the knock-out rounds. Similarly, a suspension resulting from a red card received in the last match of the group stage will carry over to the knock-out stage.
A player who is dismissed twice during the competition will be suspended for the remainder of the tournament.
