Zambia striker Barbra Banda scored her 10th goal of the competition to hand the Copper Queens a maiden Hollywoodbets Cosafa Women’s Championship title with a 1-0 extra-time victory over hosts South Africa at the Isaac Wolfson Stadium in Nelson Mandela Bay on Sunday.
The win ends a 20-year pursuit of the regional title by the Zambians and adds to their extraordinary recent success, which includes a bronze medal at the 2022 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations finals in Morocco and a first ever qualification for the Fifa Women’s World Cup.
South Africa’s youthful squad battled hard but failed to find the quality needed to test Zambia in the windy conditions that made playing flowing football difficult for both teams.
There were few chances at either end, with South Africa’s Sinazo Ntshota striking the base of the post as she came close to giving her side the lead.
Banda came close to opening the scoring in ordinary time but blazed wide, and then finally found the moment to unlock the home defence with an excellent header to leave a near capacity crowd to go home disappointed.
Last year’s winners Tanzania had to settle for the bronze medal this time round as they defeated Namibia 2-1 in the third-place play-off.
Christer Bahera put the East Africans in front with a long-range free-kick that was well hit and swerved late to defeat Namibia goalkeeper Melissa Matheus.
But Namibia were level on 20 minutes when Tanzania defender Aisha Mnunka headed the ball into her own net with a finish any striker would have been proud of.
It looked as though the game would go to penalties, but the unfortunate Namibia skipper Emma Naris scored the second own goal of the game with only two minutes remaining as she deflected a shot into her own net.
Zambia striker Banda won the Player of the Tournament prize for her 10 goals, which also saw her claim the Golden Boot.
The Golden Glove for best goalkeeper went to Zambia stopper Catherine Musonda, while Tanzania claimed the Fair Play award.