Tanzania coach Bakari Shime has selected a youthful preliminary squad of 20 players to compete at the 2021 COSAFA Women’s Championship that will be played in Nelson Mandela Bay from September 28-October 9.

Shime is no stranger to COSAFA events, he led the East Africa guest nation to wins at the 2019 COSAFA Women’s Under-20 Championship and the juniors at the 2020 COSAFA Women’s Under-17 Championship.

But this will be a step up in level with the senior national team, though he has not been afraid to select youth and players that he has worked with before in those two national sides.

That includes four 16-year-olds in Husna Mtunda, Mwamvua Haruna, Koku Kipanga and Clara Luvanga, and even 15-year-old Zawadi Athuman.

It is a very young selection overall, with no fewer than 11 players aged 20 years or younger, as Shime clearly seeks to build for the future.

There are one or two old heads in the mix, with 31-year-old attacking midfielder Mwanahamisi Shurua leading the way.

The team have been drawn in Group B at the COSAFA Women’s Championship along with Botswana, South Sudan and Zimbabwe, who they meet in their opener on Sept. 29.

They will also use the competition to build towards the preliminaries for the 2022 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations next month, where they face Namibia. The winner of that tie will advance to meet either Malawi or Zambia in the next round.

Tanzania played at the inaugural men’s COSAFA Cup in 1997, and subsequently made appearances in 2015 and 2017. They have two previous showings at the women’s senior championship in 2011 and 2020, when they lost in the first round.

Tanzania preliminary squad:

Janeth Simba, Zubeda Mgunda, Husna Mtunda, Anastazia Katunzi, Clara Luvanga, Enekia Lunyamila, Julitha Singano, Stumai Athuman, Amina Bilali, Janeth Pangamwene, Happyness Mwaipaja, Diana Msewa, Fatuma Issa, Eva Jackson, Mwamvua Haruna, Koku Kipanga, Mariam Juma, Zawadi Athuman, Mwanamisi Shurua, Donisia Minja