Eswatini will be seeking a first passage out of the group stages of the regional championship in 24 years at the TotalEnergies CAF Under-20 Africa Cup of Nations | COSAFA Qualifier Mauritius 2026, which will be staged from September 18-27.
The only time Eswatini have previously managed the feat was in 2002, and it came by default as they lost 2-0 to Zimbabwe in the only game in Group B, which had been reduced to a two-team pool following Madagascar’s withdrawal.
With the top two sides in the groups advancing to the quarter-finals, as the format dictated back then, Eswatini set up a meeting with hosts South Africa but lost 7-1. They came close to repeating that knockout showing in 2019, earning six points in their pool, but it was not enough to see them through as the best runner-up behind group winners Angola.
A 2-0 win over Mozambique was followed by success against Seychelles by the same scoreline. But a 4-1 defeat at the hands of Angola meant they missed out on the semi-finals, even if their performances were vastly improved.
History repeated itself when they hosted the tournament in 2022 and again managed a healthy haul of six points, but it was not enough to advance as Zambia topped their pool and Angola pipped them on goal difference to the best runner-up spot.
Eswatini beat Botswana 2-1 and Mauritius 7-0, but a 2-0 loss to eventual winners Zambia proved their undoing. It was certainly an improvement. They had not won a match at the COSAFA Under-20 Championships between 2004 and 2015, a record they finally put right when they beat Botswana 2-0 in 2016.
That was still not enough to advance to the knockout stages, though, as they suffered defeats to South Africa and Lesotho later in the competition. They also failed to win in 2017, with a draw against East African guest nation Uganda sandwiched between defeats to Malawi and hosts Zambia.
It was a similar story in 2018 when they played in a shortened three-team group, but successive 4-0 losses to Mauritius and South Africa saw them exit in the first round.
They were in a three-team pool in 2020 and stunned Angola with a 1-0 win in their opening game, but a loss by the same scoreline to Botswana meant they finished as runners-up, a huge missed opportunity.
They claimed four points in 2024 with an epic 5-4 win over Mozambique and a 0-0 draw with Botswana, but a 3-0 loss to Zimbabwe meant they finished third in the pool.
In 2025 they lost all three games in a disappointing showing that they will hope to improve on this campaign. Their best finish was third place all the way back in 1985, when the country hosted the competition..
