Zambia, who are the tournament's defending champions, will stage this year’s event, with the competition scheduled for December 6-16 in Kitwe.
Joining them in the pot for the draw are North African giants, Egypt, and East African nation, Uganda, who appear in their first COSAFA U-20 Championship as guest nations.
They will compete with six-time winners, Zimbabwe, five-time champions, South Africa, as well as Angola, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia and Swaziland.
The format for the competition will be the same as the recently completed COSAFA Women’s Championship, in which the teams are spilt in three pools each containing four sides.
The countries play in a round-robin format, with three points for a win, one for a draw and zero for a loss.
The top side in each pool automatically advances to the semi-finals, along with the best runner-up from the three groups.
The format will then switch to a knockout phase to determine the winner.
If the teams are level on points and need to be separated, then the head-to-head record in matches between the sides will be used in the first instance.
