COSAFA hoping to revive local appetite to return to Stadiums

Sold out posters went up at Loftus Versfeld days before the Springboks hosted Wales at the weekend, and the action did not disappoint.

Now, organisers of the COSAFA Cup in Durban are hoping football fans would have been watching in envy and their appetite to return to match venues has been enticed - especially given tickets here are free.

COSAFA general secretary Sue Destombes is eager to benefit from the lifted Covid-19 restrictions in the country.

œPlayers playing in empty stadiums, I think no matter that you know there are reasons for it, it does have some kind of an impact on the players so I think from the players™ perspective they will look forward to having spectators in the stadium

œof course our objective will be to have as many people in the stadium as possible there is no restriction the ticket have been made free of charge but everybody has to have a ticket to get into the stadium said Sue Destombes.

The tournament, now in its 21st edition, has been increased to 14 teams this year and Senegal are the invitational side having replaced Zimbabwe, who are currently banned by world football governing body FIFA.

Destombes says the competition also serves as preparation for the upcoming African Nations Championship (CHAN) qualifiers, especially for the likes of Seychelles and Madagascar who™ve had very little action since the pandemic.

Bafana Bafana are the defending champions.

Meanwhile, match officials aren™t being left behind either-COSAFA Referees manager Felix Tangawarima says that they™ve also been working tirelessly behind the scenes in preparation for every scenario.

œWhat we do in COSAFA in every tournament, we prepare our referees we have five full days to prepare our referees, so since the past five days we were actually having morning sessions where we take the referees on the field of play do simulations of what they would expect during the matches.

œAnd in the afternoon we then bring them up here, where we bring them in the field of play in class by showing them match situations, so the whole week it has been wonderful, actually it went on very well everything we wanted- top class facilities and training as you can see here Tangawarima explained.

The region has seen a number of top referees retire and the key focus, Tangawarima explains, is to usher in new faces.

Match officials like Victor Gomes, who was in charge of the Africa Cup of Nations final between eventual winners Senegal and Egypt six months ago in Cameroon, is also a product of the COSAFA Cup.

By: Mazola Molefe