Southern African tournament, featuring four nations, to be held in Zambia

Angola will play South Africa with Zambia taking on Zimbabwe in the tournament in Ndola.

Four leading nations in the southern African region will make use of the international window later this month to play a four nations tournament in Ndola, Zambia, kicking off on 22 March.

A draw was conducted on Sunday for the semi-final pairings at the Levy Mwanawasa Stadium, with Angola playing South Africa followed by the Zambian hosts against Zimbabwe.

The semi-final losers proceed to a third place play-off game on Sunday 25 March, which is being followed by a final between the two.

It will be a rare occasion for all countries to parade a full strength squad as they are able to call-up players from clubs in Europe because of the international window.

South Africa coach Stuart Baxter is scheduled to name his squad on Tuesday at a press conference in Johannesburg. The other three countries have not yet said when they will announce their squads but are expected to follow suit later in the week.

Zambia are the top ranked team in the region, in 76th place in the latest Fifa rankings. That is one spot ahead of South Africa.

Zimbabwe are 105 but Angola have tumbled down in recent years and are now in 141st place.

The mini tournament comes just two months before the scheduled annual regional Cosafa Cup, which is being played again in South Africa this year, in May.

Both Zambia and South Africa come off an unsuccessful World Cup qualifying campaign which ended last November but Angola missed out in the preliminary round while Zimbabwe were banned.

Zimbabwe played just three internationals last year - all against Namibia.

Their association has long struggled with financial problems.