2025 U-20 Africa Cup of Nations

2025 CAF U-20 Africa Cup of Nations

Tournament details
Host country	Ivory Coast
Dates	26 April – 18 May
Teams	13 (from 1 confederation)
← 2023 2027 →

The 2025 U-20 Africa Cup of Nations , known as the 2025 U20 AFCON or 2025 AFCON U20 for short and as the 2025 TotalEnergies U-20 Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship purposes, is the 18th edition (25th if editions of the tournament without hosts are included) of the biennial African international youth football tournament organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF). ^{[1] [2] [3]}

The four semi-finalists will also qualify as the CAF representatives for the 2025 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Chile.

Senegal are the defending champions.

Qualification

Main article: 2025 U-20 Africa Cup of Nations qualification

Player eligibility

Players born 1 January 2005 or later are eligible to participate in the competition.

Qualified teams

The following 13 teams qualified for the group stages:

All appearance statistics count only those since the introduction of the full host-nation tournament in 1991.

Team	Zone	Date of qualification	Appearance	Last appearance	Previous best performance
Morocco	North Zone	23 November 2024	6th	2021	Champions (1997)
Egypt		26 November 2024	13th	2023	Champions (1991, 2003, 2013)
Senegal	West A Zone	25 September 2024	7th	2023	Champions (2023)
Sierra Leone		25 September 2024	1st	None	Debut
Ivory Coast (hosts)	West B Zone	16 December 2024	12th	2015	Runners-up (1983, 1991, 2003)
Ghana		27 October 2024	13th	2021	Champions (1993, 1999, 2009, 2021)
Nigeria		27 October 2024	13th	2023	Champions (2005, 2011, 2015)
Congo [Note 1]	Central Zone	1 October 2024	4th	2023	Champions (2007)
DR Congo		1 October 2024	2nd	2013	Group stage (2013)
UNIFAC 2		2025
Kenya	Central-East Zone	18 October 2024	1st	None	Debut
Tanzania		18 October 2024	2nd	2021	Group stage (2021)
South Africa	South Zone	3 October 2024	9th	2019	Runners-up (1997)
Zambia		3 October 2024	9th	2023	Champions (2017)

Draw

The draw procedure was announced on 10 February 2025. ^[4] The 13 teams were drawn into one group of five teams and two groups of four teams. ^[5] Teams are seeded according to their performance in the 2023 U-20 Africa Cup of Nations. Hosts Ivory Coast were automatically assigned to Position A1 in the draw. Previous edition winners Senegal were assigned to Position C1 and third place Nigeria were assigned to Position B1. The 3 qualified teams that also participated in the last edition (Congo ^{[Note 1]} , Egypt, and Zambia) were seeded in Pot 1. The rest of the field were placed in Pot 2 to be drawn into the remaining positions.

Pot 1	Pot 2
UNIFAC 2 [Note 1]   Egypt   Zambia	Ghana   DR Congo   Morocco   Sierra Leone   Kenya   South Africa   Tanzania

Venues

The host country for the final stage of the edition was decided at the annual 2024 CAF Executive Committee meeting and CAF Awards in Marrakesh, Morocco on 16 December 2024, with CAF appointing Ivory Coast as hosts. ^[6]

Group Stage

All times are local, GMT (UTC±0).

Tiebreakers

Teams will be ranked according to the three points for a win system (3 points for a win, 1 for a draw, 0 points for a loss), and if tied on points, the following tiebreaking criteria are applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings:

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 were tied, and after applying all head-to-head criteria above, if two teams are still tied, all head-to-head criteria above are applied exclusively to these two teams;
5. Goal difference in all group matches;
6. Goals scored in all group matches;
7. Drawing of lots.

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Ivory Coast (H)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Knockout stage
2	UNIFAC 2 [Note 1]	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
3	DR Congo	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Possible knockout stage
4	Ghana	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
5	Tanzania	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

First match(es) will be played: April 2025. Source: CAF
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers
(H) Hosts

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Nigeria	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Knockout stage
2	Egypt	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
3	South Africa	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Possible knockout stage
4	Morocco	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

First match(es) will be played: April 2025. Source: CAF
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers

Group C

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Senegal	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Knockout stage
2	Zambia	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
3	Kenya	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Possible knockout stage
4	Sierra Leone	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

First match(es) will be played: April 2025. Source: CAF
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers

Ranking of third-placed teams

The ranking of the third-placed teams will be determined after removing the results of the team ranked fifth in Group A. ^[4]

Pos	Grp	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	A	Third place Group A	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Knockout stage
2	B	Third place Group B	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
3	C	Third place Group C	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

First match(es) will be played: 26 April 2025. Source: ^{[ citation needed ]}

Knockout stage

In the knockout stage, penalty shoot-outs are used to decide the winner if necessary (Regulations Article 75).

Bracket

	Quarter-finals				Semi-finals				Final
	May – TBC
	Group A Winners
					May – TBC
	3rd placed team B/C
					Quarter-final 1 Winners
	May – TBC
					Quarter-final 2 Winners
	Group C Winners
									18 May – TBC
	3rd placed team A/B
									Semi-final 1 Winners
	May – TBC
									Semi-final 2 Winners
	Group B Winners
					May – TBC
	Group A Runners-up
					Quarter-final 3 Winners
	May – TBC
					Quarter-final 4 Winners				Third place
	Group B Runners-up
									18 May – TBC
	Group C Runners-up
									Semi-final 1 Losers
									Semi-final 2 Losers

Quarter-finals

Winners qualified for the 2025 FIFA U-20 World Cup.

May 2025

A1	QF1	B3 / C3

---

May 2025

C1	QF2	A3 / B3

---

May 2025

B1	QF3	A2

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May 2025

B2	QF4	C2

Semi-finals

May 2025

QF1	SF1	QF2

---

May 2025

QF3	SF2	QF4

Third place match

18 May 2025

LSF1	3rd Place	LSF2

Final

18 May 2025

SF1	Final	SF2

Tournament rankings

Ranking criteria

For teams eliminated in the same knockout round, the following criteria are applied, in the order given, to determine the final rankings: Goal difference in round eliminated; Goals scored in round eliminated; If teams eliminated in the semi-finals or quarter-finals are tied, the above criteria are reapplied for the previous knockout round, with this process repeated once more should two semi-finalists remain tied; Points in group stage; Goal difference in group stage; Goals scored in group stage; Disciplinary points. For teams eliminated in the group stage, the following criteria are applied, in the order given, to determine the final rankings Position in group; Points; Goal difference; Goals scored; Disciplinary points.

Pos.	Team	Pld	W	D	L	Pts	GF	GA	GD
1
2
3
4
Eliminated in the quarter-finals
5
6
7
8
Eliminated in the group stage
9
10
11
12

Qualified teams for FIFA U-20 World Cup

The following teams from CAF qualified for the 2025 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Chile.

Team	Qualified on	Previous appearances in FIFA U-20 World Cup 1
	May 2025
	May 2025
	May 2025
	May 2025

¹Bold indicates champions for that year. Italic indicates hosts for that year.

Notes

1. Congo were suspended on 6 February 2025 due to government interference in FECOFOOT operations. Congo was not included in the draw, and will be replaced by a yet to be determined representative from UNIFAC. This will likely be one of the UNIFAC semi-final losers: Central African Republic or Cameroon.

See also

• 2025 U-17 Africa Cup of Nations

References

1. "Mozambique To Host 2024 COSAFA U-20 Championship". Pindula. Retrieved 30 January 2025.
2. Oyebola, Mike (22 June 2024). "CAF opens bid for three competitions". Daily Post Nigeria. Retrieved 30 January 2025.
3. "History of the TotalEnergies U20 Africa Cup Of Nations 2025 | COSAFA Qualifier". 4 September 2024. Retrieved 30 January 2025.
4. "CAF releases draw procedure for TotalEnergies U-20 Africa Cup of Nations Cote D'Ivoire 2025". www.ghanafa.org. Ghana Football Association. Retrieved 11 February 2025.
5. "AFCON U20 2025: Nigeria's Flying Eagles draw Egypt, South Africa, Morocco in Group of Death - Soccernet NG". 13 February 2025. Retrieved 13 February 2025.
6. "CAF Executive Committee approves 2025 Competition Calendar and TotalEnergies CAF Africa Cup of Nations Morocco 2025 Final Draw Date". 16 December 2024. Retrieved 17 December 2024.