Castle were the original sponsors of the competition in 1997 on a 10-year deal before pulling out in 2006 leaving the tournament to run without a sponsor from 2007-2009.
Suketu Patel, the president of Cosafa, revealed to KickOff.com on Saturday during the official opening of the new Cosafa House in Johannesburg that Castle are back as sponsors.
The tournament has been slotted in for July in Zambia.
“We agreed on a deal today with Castle regarding the sponsorship of the tournament which will be played in July in Zambia. The agreement that we have is that we will have the tournament this year with the option of extending if we have a successful competition this year,” Patel says.
“We will use the same format as in previous years with the weaker teams playing in the earlier rounds before they are joined by the top-ranked six teams later for the knockout stages.
“The objective is to give the lower ranked and weaker teams, like my country Seychelles, at least three games, while for the big guys like South Africa and Zambia quality competition. It is pointless to bring South Africa and Zambia now and make them play four games against weak teams,” Patel explains.
Zimbabwe has the most Cosafa titles, with four to their name, while Zambia, Angola and South Africa have three.
Add New Comment