The race for a place in the continental finals of the TotalEnergies CAF U20 Africa Cup of Nations 2025 will get under way when the COSAFA Qualifiers kick-off in Matola, Mozambique on Thursday.

The two sides that make the finals of the regional preliminary competition will advance to the continental stage next year, which will in turn act as the qualifiers for the 2025 FIFA U20 World Cup to be staged in Chile.

Four African nations will be represented and the Southern African region will hope to have two after Angola, South Africa and Zambia have all represented the region in the past.

The qualifier at the impressive ABB Stadium in Matola will feature 11 teams after Madagascar were a late withdrawal, meaning there will only be three sides in Group B.The top team in each pool advances to the semifinals along with the best-placed runner-up from across the three groups.

Zimbabwe and Botswana get the tournament under way with a Group A clash at 12h00 CAT (10h00 GMT) before hosts Mozambique are in action at 15h00 CAT.

Defending champions Zambia, who will be hoping to extend their record number of wins in the competition to 13, open their campaign on Friday with a Group B clash against 2020 finalists Namibia at 15h00.

With just three teams in the pool there is little margin for error and any defeat would have either side on the back foot immediately.Group C also gets under way on Friday with a fixture between Comoros and Lesotho at 12h00 CAT, before South Africa and Malawi do battle at 15h00.

All of those matches are either played at the ABB Stadium 1 or ABB Stadium 2, the magnificent facility of Mozambique topflight club Associacao Black Bulls.

The semi-finals will be staged on October 3 and the final two days later.