Namibia were crowned champions of the 2026 COSAFA Women’s Champions after edging South Africa 2–1 to lift the trophy for the first time in their history.
After South Africa’s Nthabiseng Majiya and Muhinatjo Hanavi found the net to leave the match tied 1–1 at the end of 90 minutes, Memory Ngonda struck in extra time to seal a famous victory and hand Namibia their maiden title.
Namibia’s coach, Lesley Kavuka, described his country’s 20-year wait for the COSAFA trophy as indescribable.
“Twenty years is a long time. It has never happened in our history. Here we are sitting as champions of Cosafa in 2026. It’s an indescribable feeling,” he said after the match.
“The girls are happy. I can feel the people back home are happy. Let me, let me take you back to how things unfolded. You know, we were obviously in a group of three. We won the first match and lost the second, and then I told the girls, ‘Now we have to take out our calculators.’ From the answer, you could see that this tournament was meant to be for us,” he added.
Meanwhile, Zambia secured third place in the competition after defeating Zimbabwe 3–1 in the playoff.
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