Ramatsiyi Moholoa

Ramatsiyi Moholoa

The Council of Southern Africa Football Associations (Cosafa) will meet in today to map the way forward for its tournament for the senior national teams.

The meeting takes place in Bloemfontein (Mangaung) and will be attended by other soccer heavyweights like Ashford Mamelodi and Sipho Nkumane, the Bafana Bafana manager who is also a member of the organising committee..

Suketu Patel, the Cosafa president, will lead the deliberations.

The meeting comes after SAB Miller announced two months ago it will not be renewing its sponsorship of the Cosafa Cup.

The last edition of the Cosafa Castle Cup will be played in Bloemfontein tonight when Bafana Bafana take on Zambia in the final.

Ironically, the Chipolopolo of Zambia were the first winners of this southern African regional tournament, which is still to be recognised by Fifa.

Cosafa's organising committee will also use today's meeting to review all the other matches played in this year's tournament.

Also expected to be discussed are the preparations for the Metropolitan Cosafa Under-20 Cup scheduled for Nelspruit in December.

Mpumalanga said the junior tournament will help them a lot in preparations for the 2010 World Cup, especially in dealing with issues of infrastructure and accommodation.

Jabu Mahlangu, the Mpumalanga MEC of sports, arts and culture, is one of the people invited by Cosafa as its guest for tonight's final.

The organising committee will also discuss the revived Cosafa Under-17 Tournament, scheduled for Namibia next month.