Namibia to face Botswana in COSAFA Cup quarterfinals

Namibia will start off their title defence when they take on Botswana in the 2016 COSAFA Castle Cup to be staged in Windhoek from June 11-25, following a draw conducted on Thursday night in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Namibia's Coach, Ricardo Mannetti will begin the defence of their title with a tricky quarterfinal clash against Botswana, while Zambia and South Africa will face the winners of first round Groups A and B respectively.

Group A will feature Zimbabwe, Swaziland, Seychelles and Madagascar, while Group B contains Malawi, Angola, Lesotho and Mauritius.

The first round group stage will take up the first week of the tournament from June 11, with just the top team in each pool advancing to the quarterfinals.

The championship then continues in a knock-out format, with the quarterfinal losers dropping into the Plate competition that was first introduced in 2013 and last year was claimed by Malawi.

"There are some hugely exciting matches for fans from all across the COSAFA region to enjoy and I know it is going to be a fantastic tournament in Namibia," said Timothy Shongwe, Chairman of the Organizing Committee of the 2016 COSAFA Castle Cup.

Meanwhile, Secretary-General of the Namibia Football Association (NFA), Barry Rukoro said,

"We look forward to welcoming the 13 other competing nations, and, of course, to defending the trophy we won in South Africa 12 months ago".

Namibia will be hosting the event for the first time and do so as holders, with Windhoek set to stage the matches across two venues, the Independence Stadium and Sam Nujoma Stadium.