The tournament was supposed to be staged in May, but the Council of Southern Africa Football Associations (COSAFA) has changed the dates from the month of May due to South African Premier Soccer League, which contains key players from the region's participating nations.
The 14 members of COSAFA are Angola, Botswana, the Comoros Islands, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, the Seychelles, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
South Africa’s top two divisions will end their season on May 21, with the Nedbank Cup to be staged on May 28.
“We have decided to move the dates of the COSAFA Castle Cup 2016 so as to give every competing nation the opportunity to bring their best squads to Namibia.
“This is the flagship tournament for Southern Africa and we want to make sure that we see the very best talent the region has to offer on display.” Invitations have been sent to the 14 COSAFA member associations, with a deadline of March 11 set for the confirmation of their participation," Timothy Shongwe, Chairman of the Organising Committee, said.
Namibia, who are the current holders of the COSAFA Castle Cup after their victory in South Africa in May last year, will be hosting the tournament for the first time.
Meanwhile, African Nations Championship winners Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have been added as a guest nation to this year's taurnament.
DR Congo will join the 2016 COSAFA Castle Cup at the quarterfinal stage along with South Africa, Zambia, Botswana, Mozambique, and hosts and holders Namibia.
Those teams will be joined in the quarterfinals by the two first round group winners, to be contested by seeded sides Malawi, Angola, Zimbabwe and Swaziland, as well as Madagascar, Lesotho, Mauritius and Seychelles. The teams will be seeded based on the April 2016 FIFA World Rankings.
Zambia and Zimbabwe have each won the COSAFA Castle Cup on four occasions since the competition was first played in 1997. South Africa and Angola have three titles each, while Namibia claimed their first championship win when they defeated Mozambique 2-0 in the final in 2015.
