2019 U-17 Africa Cup of Nations

Last updated
2019 Africa U-17 Cup of Nations
2019 Afrika U-17 Kombe la Mataifa
2019 Africa U-17 Cup of Nations.png
Tournament details
Host countryTanzania
Dates14–28 April
Teams8 (from 1 confederation)
Venue(s)2 (in 2 host cities)
Final positions
ChampionsFlag of Cameroon.svg  Cameroon (2nd title)
Runners-upVacant
(originally Flag of Guinea.svg  Guinea)
Third placeFlag of Angola.svg  Angola
Fourth placeFlag of Nigeria.svg  Nigeria
Tournament statistics
Matches played16
Goals scored36 (2.25 per match)
Top scorer(s) Flag of Angola.svg Capita (4 goals)
Best player(s) Flag of Cameroon.svg Stève Mvoué
Fair play awardFlag of Angola.svg  Angola
2017
2023
2021

The 2019 Africa U-17 Cup of Nations was the 13th edition of the Africa U-17 Cup of Nations (18th edition if tournaments without hosts are included), the biennial international youth football tournament organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) for players aged 17 and below. In May 2015, it was decided that the tournament would be hosted by Tanzania. [1]

Contents

Four teams of the tournament qualified for the 2019 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Brazil as the CAF representatives. Cameroon won their second title.

Angola and Nigeria qualified for finishing third and fourth in the competition respectively. Defending champions Mali failed to qualify.

Following completion of the tournament, CAF ejected Guinea from the competition, and deleted its results from the records, for fielding players with passports which had a different date of birth to those the players had used in the U-16 age restricted 'International Dream Cup' in Japan. Senegal were given the remaining place at the U-17 World Cup as they had placed behind Guinea during the group stage. [2]

Qualification

The CAF decided in July 2017 that the format of the qualifying competition should be changed and split according to zones. [3] The qualifiers were played between 19 July and 18 September 2018. At the end of the qualification phase, seven teams joined the hosts Tanzania.

Player eligibility

Players born 1 January 2002 or later were eligible to participate in the competition.

Qualified teams

The following eights teams qualified for the final tournament. [4]

Note: All appearance statistics count only those since the introduction of final tournament in 1995.

TeamZoneAppearancePrevious best performance
Flag of Tanzania.svg  Tanzania (hosts) Central-East Zone 2ndGroup stage (2017)
Flag of Morocco.svg  Morocco North Zone 2ndFourth place (2013)
Flag of Senegal.svg  Senegal West A Zone 2ndGroup stage (2011)
Flag of Guinea.svg  Guinea West A Zone 7thThird place (1995, 2015, 2017)
Flag of Nigeria.svg  Nigeria West B Zone 9thChampions (2001, 2007)
Flag of Cameroon.svg  Cameroon Central Zone 7thChampions (2003)
Flag of Uganda.svg  Uganda Central-East Zone 1stDebut
Flag of Angola.svg  Angola South Zone 4thGroup stage (1997, 1999, 2017)

Venues

The matches were played in two venues.

CitiesVenuesCapacity
Dar es Salaam National Stadium 60,000
Mbagala, Dar es Salaam Chamazi Stadium 10,000

Squads

Each squad can contain a maximum of 21 players. [5]

Draw

The draw of the final tournament was held on 20 December 2018, 19:30 EAT (UTC+3), at the Mlimani City Conference Centre in Dar es Salaam. [6] [7] The eight teams were drawn into two groups of four teams. The hosts Tanzania were seeded in Group A and allocated to position A1, while 2017 third place Guinea were seeded in Group B and allocated to position B1 (2017 champions and runners-up Mali and Ghana did not qualify). The remaining six teams were seeded based on their results in the 2017 Africa U-17 Cup of Nations (final tournament and qualifiers), and drawn to any of the remaining three positions in each group. [8] [9]

SeedsPot 1Pot 2

Match officials

A total of 13 referees and 14 assistant referees were appointed for the tournament, including one women referee and two women assistant referees, which is the first time women officials were appointed in a CAF men's tournament. [10] [11]

Group stage

The top two teams of each group advance to the semi-finals and qualify for the 2019 FIFA U-17 World Cup.

Tiebreakers

Teams were ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss), and if tied on points, the following tiebreaking criteria were applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings (Regulations Article 72): [5]

  1. Points in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
  2. Goal difference in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
  3. Goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
  4. If more than two teams are tied, and after applying all head-to-head criteria above, a subset of teams are still tied, all head-to-head criteria above are reapplied exclusively to this subset of teams;
  5. Goal difference in all group matches;
  6. Goals scored in all group matches;
  7. Drawing of lots.

All times are local, EAT (UTC+3). [12]

Group A

PosTeamPldWDLGFGAGDPtsQualification
1Flag of Nigeria.svg  Nigeria 321075+27 Knockout stage and
2019 FIFA U-17 World Cup
2Flag of Angola.svg  Angola 320153+26
3Flag of Uganda.svg  Uganda 311142+24
4Flag of Tanzania.svg  Tanzania (H)300361260
Source: CAF
Rules for classification: Group stage tiebreakers
(H) Hosts
Tanzania  Flag of Tanzania.svg4–5Flag of Nigeria.svg  Nigeria
Report
Angola  Flag of Angola.svg1–0Flag of Uganda.svg  Uganda
Report
National Stadium, Dar es Salaam
Referee: Nabil Boukhalfa (Algeria)

Nigeria  Flag of Nigeria.svg1–0Flag of Angola.svg  Angola
Report
National Stadium, Dar es Salaam
Referee: Hassan El Ghandour (Egypt)
Uganda  Flag of Uganda.svg3–0Flag of Tanzania.svg  Tanzania
Report
National Stadium, Dar es Salaam
Referee: Samir Guezzaz (Morocco)

Tanzania  Flag of Tanzania.svg2–4Flag of Angola.svg  Angola
Report
National Stadium, Dar es Salaam
Referee: Abdulwahid Huraywidah (Libya)
Nigeria  Flag of Nigeria.svg1–1Flag of Uganda.svg  Uganda
Report
Chamazi Stadium, Mbagala
Referee: Blaise Yuven Ngwa (Cameroon)

Group B

PosTeamPldWDLGFGAGDPtsQualification
1Flag of Cameroon.svg  Cameroon 321041+37 Knockout stage and
2019 FIFA U-17 World Cup
2Flag of Guinea.svg  Guinea (D)32013306Advanced to the knockout stage,
but disqualified after the tournament.
3Flag of Senegal.svg  Senegal 30212312 2019 FIFA U-17 World Cup
4Flag of Morocco.svg  Morocco 30122421
Source: CAF
Rules for classification: Group stage tiebreakers
(D) Disqualified
Guinea  Flag of Guinea.svg0–2Flag of Cameroon.svg  Cameroon
Report
Chamazi Stadium, Mbagala
Referee: Tsegay Mogos Teklu (Eritrea)
Morocco  Flag of Morocco.svg1–1Flag of Senegal.svg  Senegal
Report
Chamazi Stadium, Mbagala
Referee: Abdoul Karim Twagiramukiza (Rwanda)

Cameroon  Flag of Cameroon.svg2–1Flag of Morocco.svg  Morocco
Report
Chamazi Stadium, Mbagala
Referee: Beida Dahane (Mauritania)
Senegal  Flag of Senegal.svg1–2Flag of Guinea.svg  Guinea
Report
Chamazi Stadium, Mbagala
Referee: Mashood Ssali (Uganda)

Guinea  Flag of Guinea.svg1–0Flag of Morocco.svg  Morocco
Report
Chamazi Stadium, Mbagala
Referee: Pierre Ghislain Atcho (Gabon)
Cameroon  Flag of Cameroon.svg0–0Flag of Senegal.svg  Senegal
Report
National Stadium, Dar es Salaam
Referee: Jonesia Rukyaa Kabakama (Tanzania)

Knockout stage

In the knockout stage, penalty shoot-out (no extra time) was used to decide the winner if necessary (Regulations Article 73). [5]

Bracket

 
Semi-finals Final
 
      
 
24 April – Dar es Salaam
 
 
Flag of Nigeria.svg  Nigeria 0 (9)
 
28 April – Dar es Salaam
 
Flag of Guinea.svg  Guinea (p)0 (10)
 
Flag of Guinea.svg  Guinea 0 (3)
 
24 April – Dar es Salaam
 
Flag of Cameroon.svg  Cameroon (p)0 (5)
 
Flag of Cameroon.svg  Cameroon (p)0 (4)
 
 
Flag of Angola.svg  Angola 0 (3)
 
Third place match
 
 
27 April – Dar es Salaam
 
 
Flag of Nigeria.svg  Nigeria 1
 
 
Flag of Angola.svg  Angola 2

Semi-finals


Cameroon  Flag of Cameroon.svg0–0Flag of Angola.svg  Angola
Report
Penalties
4–3

Third place match

Nigeria  Flag of Nigeria.svg1–2Flag of Angola.svg  Angola
Report
National Stadium, Dar es Salaam
Referee: Abdoul Karim Twagiramukiza (Rwanda)

Final

Guinea  Flag of Guinea.svg0–0Flag of Cameroon.svg  Cameroon
Report
Penalties
3–5
National Stadium, Dar es Salaam
Referee: Dahane Beida (Mauritania)

Winners

 2019 Africa U-17 Cup of Nations 
Flag of Cameroon.svg
Cameroon
Second title

Awards

The following awards were given at the conclusion of the tournament:

Top Goalscorer [13] Most Valuable Player [13] Fair Play award [13]
Flag of Angola.svg Capita Flag of Cameroon.svg Stève Mvoué Flag of Angola.svg  Angola

Goalscorers

There were 36 goals scored in 16 matches, for an average of 2.25 goals per match.

4 goals

3 goals

2 goals

1 goal

Qualified teams for FIFA U-17 World Cup

The following four teams from CAF qualified for the 2019 FIFA U-17 World Cup. [14]

TeamQualified onPrevious appearances in FIFA U-17 World Cup 1
Flag of Cameroon.svg  Cameroon 18 April 20191 (2003)
Flag of Nigeria.svg  Nigeria 20 April 201911 ( 1985 , 1987, 1989, 1993 , 1995, 2001, 2003, 2007 , 2009 , 2013 , 2015 )
Flag of Angola.svg  Angola 20 April 20190 (debut)
Flag of Senegal.svg  Senegal 17 May 20190 (debut)
1Bold indicates champions for that year. Italic indicates hosts for that year.

Concerns and controversies

Guinean Football Federation punishment

CAF imposed the following penalties on the Guinean Football Federation:

References

  1. "CAF EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE DECISIONS OF 26 MAY 2015". www.cafonline.com. 27 May 2015. Retrieved 25 February 2018.
  2. "Guinea found guilty of age-cheating and disqualified from U-17 World Cup". 2019-05-18. Retrieved 2019-05-18.
  3. "Decisions of CAF Executive Committee – 20 July 2017". CAF. 20 July 2017.
  4. "Finalists for Tanzania 2019 emerge". CAF. 20 September 2018.
  5. 1 2 3 "Regulations of the U-17 Africa Cup of Nations" (PDF). CAFonline.com. 5 June 2018. Retrieved 5 June 2018.
  6. "Accreditation for official draw of Total U-20 AFCON Niger 2019 & Total U-17 AFCON Tanzania 2019". CAF. 29 November 2018.
  7. "Rivals kept apart as Tanzania draw Nigeria". CAF. 20 December 2018.
  8. "Draw Procedure for Total U-17 Africa Cup of Nations, Tanzania 2019". CAF. 18 December 2018.
  9. "Procedures of the draw of the 13th Edition TOTAL U-17 Africa Cup of Nations, Tanzania 2019" (PDF). CAF.
  10. "Ground-breaking as Women referees nominated for U-17 AFCON". CAF. 11 March 2018.
  11. "List of Preselected Referees AFCON U17- Tanzania 2019". CAF.
  12. @CAF_Online (13 April 2019). "Here are the fixtures of @Total U-17 Africa Cup of Nations taking place in Dar Es Salam, Tanzania @Tanfootball #TotalAFCONU17" (Tweet) via Twitter.
  13. 1 2 3 "Cameroon crowned Champions as Guinea pay penalty". CAF. 28 April 2019.
  14. "Angola set for debut, Guinea, Cameroon, Nigeria qualify". FIFA.com. 21 April 2019. Archived from the original on April 20, 2019.
  15. "Morocco: Cameroon should be disqualified for alleged age-cheating in U17 Afcon | Goal.com". www.goal.com. Retrieved 27 April 2019.
  16. "Senegal complain to Caf about Guinea's alleged age-cheating | Goal.com". www.goal.com. 21 April 2019. Retrieved 27 April 2019.
  17. "U-16 International Dream Cup 2017 JAPAN Presented by The Asahi Shimbun". JFA|Japan Football Association (in Japanese).