St Columbus High School grounds, Hartsfield and the Old Mutual Heath Steak Cricket Academy fields have been identified as training venues by teams for the forthcoming Cosafa Women’s Championship to be held in Bulawayo next week.

Barbourfields and Luveve Stadiums are the competition venues.

“All our training venues are superb and ready for the tournament. All we are appealing to the Bulawayo football community is that they must make sure our visitors are at home and also fill up match venues when competition gets underway,” said Zifa communications manager Xolisani Gwesela.

Twelve countries have confirmed participation and have been divided into three groups of four, with the Mighty Warriors, under Sithethelelwe “Kwinji” Sibanda, being placed in Group A alongside Madagascar, Malawi and Zambia.

Group B comprises Mauritius, Mozambique, Swaziland and guest nation Kenya. Banyana Banyana are in Group C with Botswana, Lesotho and Namibia.

This year’s championship represents the biggest field assembled for the Cosafa Women’s Championship and shows tremendous growth in women’s football in the last decade.

Zimbabwe go into the tourney as defending championships, having won the last tournament played on home soil in 2011, while South Africa claimed victory in the three tournaments before that played in 2002, 2006 and 2008.

The 2017 Cosafa Women’s Championship Draw :

GROUP A: (Zimbabwe, Zambia, Madagascar,Malawi)

GROUP B: (Kenya,Mauritius,Mozambique,Swaziland)

GROUP C: (South Africa, Namibia, Lesotho, Botswana)

Pool Stage Fixtures

September 13 (Barbourfields Stadium)

10h30     Namibia vs Botswana

14h00  Zambia vs Malawi

16h30 Zimbabwe vs Madagascar

September 14 (Luveve Stadium)

10h30     Mauritius vs Swaziland

14h00     Kenya vs Mozambique

16h30     South Africa vs Lesotho

September 15 (Barbourfields Stadium)

10h30     Madagascar vs Malawi

14h00     South Africa vs Namibia

16h30     Zimbabwe vs Zambia

September 16 (Luveve Stadium)

10h30     Kenya vs Mauritius

14h00     Lesotho vs Botswana

16h30     Mozambique vs Swaziland

September 17 (Barbourfields Stadium)

10h30     Zambia vs Madagascar

14h00     Zimbabwe vs Malawi

16h30     South Africa vs Botswana

September 18 (Luveve Stadium)

10h30     Namibia vs Lesotho

14h00     Mauritius vs Mozambique

16h30     Kenya vs Swaziland