Zambia open title defence against Malawi

Zambia plan to give their younger players some exposure when they kick off their Cosafa Cup title defence against Malawi at the King Zwelithini Stadium in Durban on Thursday evening.

Kick-off is at 6pm CAT (SA, GMT+2)

The Copper Bullets won the tournament for a sixth time in 2022 when they beat Namibia 1-0 in the final to equal the record held by Zimbabwe for most triumphs.

Moses Sichone's side will battle it out with the Flames, Comoros and Seychelles in group B for a place in the semifinals - a stage they have reached on 15 occasions, more than any other team.

Chipolopolo are unbeaten in their last five Cosafa Cup outings, having gone through the 2022 edition with a perfect record, although they needed penalties to get past Botswana before edging Senegal in a five-goal thriller.

Sichone wants to use the annual competition as a platform for their African Nations Championship (Chan) qualifying campaign and is keen to blood some of his youngsters.

"We are looking forward to going and defending the Cup. I came up with this squad because it's not only COSAFA we are looking at but also trying to prepare for the Chan tournament," he said.

"Cosafa for us is more developmental, hence we thought it was a good thing to give young players some exposure and see how they can perform.

"The group where we are is a good group, we are not taking any opponent lightly. We would like to bring all positive results and of course, win the tournament."

Malawi failed to make it out of the group stages in the last two years and haven't contested the final since finishing runners-up in 2002 and 2003.

The Flames, who are coached by former Kaizer Chiefs defender Patrick Mabedi, picked up four points in their group last time around, losing 2-1 to Lesotho and drawing 1-1 with Eswatini before claiming a 2-0 win over Mauritius.

The two nations last met in the 2019 Cosafa Cup when Zambia came out on top in the quarterfinals via a penalty shootout.