The Council of Southern Africa Football Associations (COSAFA) will host five tournaments in 2018 as the organisation continues to play a leading role in developing the sport in the region.

COSAFA has an almost three-decade history of providing development opportunities on and off the pitch for players, coaches and administrators, and this year will be no different.

The flagship COSAFA Cup tournament for senior men’s national teams will be hosted in South Africa from May 27-June 9, providing rich entertainment for fans in the build-up to the FIFA World Cup in Russia.

Zimbabwe will seek to retain their crown won last year, in what is sure to be another tournament to launch the budding young stars of the region.

That will be followed by the COSAFA Under-17 Championships in Mauritius from July 19-29, which will also serve as a zonal qualifier for the 2019 African Under-17 Championships in Tanzania.

The COSAFA Women’s Championship will also be staged in South Africa, with those exact dates still to be determined, while there will also be a women’s Under-20 tournament from December 1-15 in Botswana that will form part of the AUSC Region 5 Under-20 Youth Games.

And the fifth competition to be played will be the annual COSAFA Under-20 Championships, also in December, with the exact dates and venue to be announced at a later stage.