The 2024 Cosafa Cup starts on Wednesday, 26 June in Gqeberha and it will be another chance for the teams from the Southern African region to be crowned champions and take bragging rights.
The showpiece event was first staged in 1997 and, since then, has developed some of the top talent from the region, including great players who went on to play at continental finals and, in some cases, World Cups.
We look at who are the leading scorers from each Cosafa nation in the regional finals.
Ibroihim Youssouf (Comoros Islands) 3 goals
Youssouf is the leading scorer for Comoros having netted three times before, two goals in 2019 and then another one in 2023. He has been a stalwart of the side over the years in the COSAFA Cup.
Victor Letsoalo (South Africa) 4 goals
Letsoalo leapt to the top of South Africa’s coring charts with an outstanding display in the 2021 COSAFA Cup, netting a hat-trick on debut against Lesotho and then grabbing a further goal in the semifinals against Mozambique. His hat-trick was just the second ever for Bafana Bafana and the first by a player winning their maiden cap.
Kersley Appou (Mauritius) 4 goals
Appou was a lead forward for the Mauritians in the early years of the tournament, playing between 2000 and 2007. Forward Ashley Nazira scored three goals in the 2019 competition and will hope to get another opportunity when the islanders play in the COSAFA Cup in 2024.
Philip Zialor (Seychelles) 4 goals
All of Zialor’s goals in the COSAFA Cup came in one game as Seychelles stunned Mauritius with a 7-0 victory, still the largest win in the history of the competition. His four goals in a single game is also a COSAFA Cup record!
Fabrice Akwa, Love Cabungula (Angola) 5 goals
Akwa was a star striker for Angola at the start of the century, who turned out for Portuguese giants Benfica among other overseas clubs. He scored a hat-trick against Mauritius in 2006 to go with goals in 2000 and 2001. He is joined on five goals by Love, who netted in the 2004, 2005 and 2006 competitions. Love netted two each against Namibia and Zimbabwe, and got another versus Mauritius. He played for the national team for 13 years, with almost half his 11 goals coming in the COSAFA Cup!
Sarivahy Vombola (Madagascar) 5 goals
All of Vombola’s goals came in the 2015 COSAFA Cup, where he was in electric form and took the Malagasy to third place. He netted in the 2-1 opener against Lesotho, got two in the 3-2 loss to Namibia in the semifinals and then another brace in the third-place play-off as Madagascar beat Botswana 2-1.
Justin Shonga (Zambia) 6 goals
Shonga took over as Zambia’s leading scorer from the great Collin Mbesuma at the 2021 tournament when he netted three goals despite Chipolopolo’s early exit. He also scored three times in the 2017 tournament as Zambia were beaten in the final by Zimbabwe.
Deon Hotto (Namibia) 6 goals
Hotto was level with Namibia legend Congo Hindjou going into the 2018 COSAFA Cup, but his strike in the Plate semifinal defeat to South Africa took his career tally to six. Hotto was a star player for Namibia when they lifted the title in 2015, scoring twice in the final win over Mozambique.
Gabadinho Mhango (Malawi) 6 goals
Mhango scored a hat-trick against Angola in the 2016 COSAFA Cup and then added three goals to his tally in 2019 to streak ahead in the leading scorer stakes for The Flames. Behind him on three goals are legend Esau Kanyenda, Khuda Muyaba, Gerald Phiri Jnr and Jonas Nkhwazi. All of the latter’s goals came in 1997.
Onkabetse Makgantai (Botswana) 6 goals
Makgantai scored five goals in the 2018 COSAFA Cup to boost his overall tally to six. He has one more career COSAFA Cup goal than Thatayaone Kgamanyane and Kabelo Seakanyeng, who scored in three tournaments in a row between 2016 and 2018.
Motebang Sera (Lesotho) 7 goals
Sera is another who moved to the top of the scorers’ charts for his country in 2021 when he took his tally to six in the competition, which he has since added further to. He has now scored in six separate COSAFA Cup tournaments, having first netted in 2016, then 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021 and 2023.
Manuel ‘Tico-Tico’ Bucuane (Mozambique) 7 goals
Tico-Tico is one of the leading strikers from the Southern African region and displayed all his talents in the COSAFA Cup, with goals between 1997 and 2008. No other player has had such a long run of scoring in the competition and he is a legend of Southern Africa.
Peter Ndlovu (Zimbabwe) 8 goals
Ndlovu always made himself available for the COSAFA Cup despite playing in the big leagues in England and his goals return was impressive, stretching over some seven seasons. His hat-trick in 2004 against Eswatini were the final goals he scored in the regional championship.
Felix Badenhorst (Eswatini) 9 goals
Badenhorst was in superb form in the 2016 COSAFA Cup with five goals as Eswatini finished third. He added another goal in 2017 and then two more in 2019. He moved to the top of the list as greatest scorer in the competition’s history with a goal in a 3-1 win over Lesotho in 2021. Only one goal behind him is compatriot Sabelo Ndzinisa, who has eight goals, making him second highest scorer ever in the competition.