2025 COSAFA Under-17 Championship
The 2025 COSAFA U-17 Youth Championship was the 13th edition of the COSAFA U-17 Youth Championship, the international youth football championship organised by COSAFA for the men's under-17 national teams of Southern Africa. Zimbabwe was the host of the tournament.
Zambia were the defending champions, having defeated Angola 2–1 in the final of the previous edition, but failed to make it past the group stage. South Africa won their fourth title defeating Angola 2–1 in the final.
Participation
Participating teams
Twelve of the 14 COSAFA member nations entered the competition, which served as the regional qualifying tournament for the 2026 U-17 Africa Cup of Nations.Note: All statistics exclude instances where the team was disqualified during the tournament.
| Team | Appearance | Last appearance | Previous best performance |
| 2024 | |||
| 2024 | |||
| 2024 | |||
| 2024 | |||
| 2024 | |||
| 2017 | |||
| 2024 | |||
| 2024 | |||
| 2024 | |||
| 2024 | |||
| 2024 | |||
| 2024 |
;Did not enter
Draw
The draw was held on 5 August 2025 at 11:30 CAT at Johannesburg. The 12 teams were drawn into three groups of four teams, with hosts Zimbabwe seeded in Group A, the defending champions Zambia seeded in Group B and Angola seeded in Group C. The remaining 9 teams were allocated to two pots based on the results of the previous tournament edition and were drawn to the remaining positions.| Seeds | Pot [|1] | Pot 2 |
Squads
Each team was required to register a squad of 20 players for the tournament, with players born on or after 1 January 2009 eligible to participate.Match officials
The following officials were appointed to officiate the tournament:;Referees
- Nelson da Silva
- Keabetswe Dintwa
- Moustoifa Kalido
- Lebalang Mokete
- Josianno Todihajaniaina
- Eness Gumbo
- Godfrey Nkhakananga
- Mweshitsama Naftal
- Antsino Twanyanyukwa
- Noris Arissol
- Luxolo Badi
- Hillary Hambaba
- Thanks Nyahuye
- Lawrence Zimondi
- Ookeditse Keitseope
- Moustoifa Elmahfoudhe
- Zamani Simelane
- Banele Thwala
- Siza Dlangamandla
- Lareunion Miladera
- Samuel Fudzulani
- Alex Lumponjani
- Kgara Mokoena
- Trywell Nyirenda
- Dominica Melusi
- Brighton Chimene
- Alex Lumponjani
- Shaji Padayachy
Group stage
COSAFA announced the tournament schedule on 19 August 2025.The top team of each group, along with the best second-placed team, advanced to the semi-finals.
Group A
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Group B
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Group C
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Ranking of second-placed teams
The best second-placed team qualified for the semi-finals.Knockout stage
Bracket
Semi-finals
Winners qualified for 2026 U-17 Africa Cup of Nations.----
Third place playoff
Winners qualified for 2026 U-17 Africa Cup of Nations.Goalscorers
The COSAFA Technical Study Group announced the group stage Best XI as follows:Coach: Mario Catala
Awards
The COSAFA U-17 Championship technical study group selected the following as the best of the tournament.| Award | Player | ||||||||||||
| Best Player |  Qualified teams for CAF U-17 Africa Cup of NationsThe following three teams from COSAFA qualified for the 2026 U-17 Africa Cup of Nations.
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