A change to the format of the COSAFA Castle Cup agreed by all 13 member associations that changes the look of the competition for 2005.

 Instead of the traditional knockout format used for the last five years, the competition is now played in a group play-off system.

Twelve of the 13 teams – defending champions Angola have been given a bye – are divided into three groups of four and play off for a place in the final group, where Angola have already qualified.

The groups are played over a single weekend in a single venue with the teams drawn against each other in two semifinals on a Saturday and the winners proceeding to the group final the next day.

The winner of the group then qualifies for the competition final group which will be played on the same format, including a third place playoff, at a venue to be decided.

The draw for the three groups was made in January with a seeding system, based on current FIFA rankings, employed. The venues of the three group stages were also determined at the same time. 

With only a week to the last group play-offs, featuring Lesotho, Malawi, Zambia and Swaziland – South Africa and Zimbabwe have already qualified in their Groups A and B play-offs respectively and are awaiting the Group C play offs during the weekend of June 11. 

The tournament’s semis and finals will be played on the weekend of 13 August.

03 June 2005