Six-time COSAFA Women's Championship champions Zimbabwe have been handed a fair draw as they seek to re-establish themselves as a force in the regional football tournament.
The competition is scheduled for Gqeberha, South Africa from October 22-November 2.
Zimbabwe were pooled together with Mozambique and Lesotho in Group D during a draw conducted in Johannesburg, South Africa yesterday.
Only the top teams from each of the pools will advance to the semi-finals.
Returning Mighty Warriors coach Sithethelelwe "Kwinji 15" Sibanda was not immediately available for comment but ZIFA chief executive Yvonne Mapika Manwa said they were happy to have the women's senior national team back in action.
"I am so happy that we are back in the game and we also have a full-time coach an experienced one.
"The girls are going to start their camp on the 13th of October . . . we need to give them time to train so that by the time the tournament starts they will be ready," Manwa said.
Although she might not be at liberty to talk to the media indicating that she will first need clearance from ZIFA, Sibanda will no doubt have used the recently held Heart Cup tournament to have a closer look at the kind of players set to be at her disposal.
Sibanda would also have been following defending league champions Herentals Queens who did well in the Champions League, and COSAFA qualifier in Malawi, which gave a host of young players invaluable experience.
At the same draw yesterday, defending COSAFA champions Malawi were drawn alongside Botswana, Madagascar and Mauritius.
Organisers of the competition -- COSAFA are also happy that a record-breaking 14 teams, will line up to compete at the tournament.
This makes the COSAFA the biggest regional tourney on the African continent.
Malawi will hope to progress from Group B to the semi-finals but face a tough Botswana side who reached the quarter-finals of the 2022 Women's Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco.
Hosts South Africa, who records seven-time winners of the competition, are in Group A along with neighbours Namibia, Eswatini, and debutants Seychelles. That will be no easy pool for what is likely to be an experimental Banyana Banyana.
Seasoned campaigners Zambia will headline another three-team Group C that also includes Angola and Comoros.
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"There will be two venues used in Gqeberha, including the iconic Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium that was built ahead of the 2010 FIFA World Cup and remains among the best stadiums in Africa.
"There is no doubt that this tournament, along with the regular staging of the COSAFA Women's Under-17 Championship and the zonal qualifiers for the CAF.
"Women's Champions League have been a catalyst for the success of national teams from the region.
"Players such as Temwa Chawinga, who is excelling in the National Women's Soccer League in the United States with Kansas City, Barbra Banda and the world's most expensive women's footballer, Racheal Kundananji, to go with a host of South Africans, have cut their teeth at international level in this competition," COSAFA said.
South Africa have won seven of the previous 11 COSAFA Women's Championships played, with Zimbabwe (2011), Tanzania, Zambia, and Malawi as the other teams to lift the trophy.
COSAFA draw:
GROUP A: South Africa; Namibia; Eswatini; Seychelles
GROUP B: Malawi; Botswana; Madagascar; Mauritius
GROUP C: Zambia; Angola; Comoros
GROUP D: Mozambique; Zimbabwe; Lesotho
