2026 U-17 Africa Cup of Nations qualification

2026 U-17 Africa Cup of Nations qualification

Tournament details
Host countries	TBD (North Zone) Mali (West A Zone) Ivory Coast (West B Zone) TBD (Central Zone) TBD (Central-East Zone) Zimbabwe (South Zone)
Dates	11 September 2025 –
Teams	51
Tournament statistics
Matches played	22
Goals scored	79 (3.59 per match)
← 2025 2027 →

The 2026 U-17 Africa Cup of Nations qualification is a men's under-17 football competition that decided the participating teams of the 2026 U-17 Africa Cup of Nations.

Players born on 1 January 2009 or later were eligible to participate in the competition. The host country for the final stage of the edition is Morocco, appointed during the annual CAF Executive Committee meeting along the 2024 CAF Awards ceremony in Marrakesh, Morocco where CAF appointed the country as host. ^[1]

Teams

Zone	Spots	Teams entering qualification	Did not enter
North Zone (UNAF)	3 spots	Algeria   Egypt   Libya   Morocco   Tunisia
West A Zone (WAFU-UFOA A)	3 spots	Gambia   Guinea   Guinea-Bissau   Liberia   Mali   Mauritania   Senegal   Sierra Leone	Cape Verde
West B Zone (WAFU-UFOA B)	2 spots	Benin   Burkina Faso   Ghana   Ivory Coast   Niger   Nigeria   Togo
Central Zone (UNIFFAC)	2 spots	Cameroon   Central African Republic   Congo   DR Congo   Gabon   Chad   Equatorial Guinea   São Tomé and Príncipe
Central-East Zone (CECAFA)	3 spots	Burundi   Ethiopia   Kenya   Somalia   South Sudan   Sudan   Tanzania   Uganda   Djibouti   Eritrea   Rwanda
South Zone (COSAFA)	3 spots	Angola   Botswana   Comoros   Eswatini   Lesotho   Madagascar   Malawi   Mauritius   Mozambique   South Africa   Zambia   Zimbabwe	Namibia   Seychelles

Notes

• Teams in bold qualified for the final tournament.
• (W): Withdrew after draw

North Zone

Main article: 2025 UNAF U-17 Tournament (Morocco)

West A Zone

The WAFU-UFOA Zone A qualifiers for the U-17 Africa Cup of Nations will be hosted by Mali with the matches played starting 5 October 2025. The matches will be played at Bamako, Mali.

All times are local, GMT (UTC+0).

Group stage

The eight teams were drawn into two groups of four teams. The winners and the runners-up of each group advanced to the semi-finals.

Tiebreakers

Teams were 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 two teams were tied on points, the following tiebreaking criteria were applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings (Regulations Article 13): ^[2]

1. Points in head-to-head matches match between the two tied teams;
2. Goal difference in all group matches;
3. Goals scored in all group matches;
4. Drawing of lots.

If more than two teams were tied, the following criteria were applied instead:

1. Points in matches between the tied teams;
2. Goal difference in matches between the tied teams;
3. Goals scored in matches between the tied teams;
4. If after applying all criteria above, two teams were still tied, the above criteria were again applied to matches played between the two teams in question. If this did not resolve the tie, the next three criteria were applied;
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	Mali (H)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Semi-finals
2	Liberia	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
3	Gambia	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
4	Guinea-Bissau	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Updated to match(es) played on unknown. Source: WAFU A
Rules for classification: Group stage tiebreakers
(H) Hosts

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Senegal	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Semi-finals
2	Sierra Leone	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
3	Mauritania	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
4	Guinea	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Updated to match(es) played on unknown. Source: WAFU A
Rules for classification: Group stage tiebreakers

West B Zone

The WAFU-UFOA Zone B qualifiers for the U-17 Africa Cup of Nations will be hosted by Ivory Coast with the matches played between 20 September and 3 October 2025, the draw was announced on 4 September 2025. ^[3]

All times are local, GMT (UTC±0).

Group stage

The seven teams were drawn into two groups of three and four teams. The winners and the runners-up of each group advanced to the semi-finals.

Tiebreakers

Teams were 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 two teams were tied on points, the following tiebreaking criteria were applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings (Regulations Article 13): ^[2]

1. Points in head-to-head matches match between the two tied teams;
2. Goal difference in all group matches;
3. Goals scored in all group matches;
4. Drawing of lots.

If more than two teams were tied, the following criteria were applied instead:

1. Points in matches between the tied teams;
2. Goal difference in matches between the tied teams;
3. Goals scored in matches between the tied teams;
4. If after applying all criteria above, two teams were still tied, the above criteria were again applied to matches played between the two teams in question. If this did not resolve the tie, the next three criteria were applied;
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, A)	2	2	0	0	5	0	+5	6	Semi-finals
2	Niger	2	1	0	1	3	3	0	3
3	Togo	2	0	1	1	2	4	−2	1
4	Ghana	2	0	1	1	1	4	−3	1

Updated to match(es) played on unknown. Source: ^{[ citation needed ]}
Rules for classification: Group stage tiebreakers
(A) Advance to a further round; (H) Hosts

20 September 2025 (2025-09-20)

15:00

Ivory Coast	2–0	Niger

Charles Konan Banny Stadium, Yamoussoukro

20 September 2025 (2025-09-20)

18:00

Togo	1–1	Ghana

Charles Konan Banny Stadium, Yamoussoukro

---

23 September 2025 (2025-09-23)

15:00

Niger	3–1	Togo

Stade Lycée Scientifique, Yamoussoukro

23 September 2025 (2025-09-23)

18:00

Ghana	0–3	Ivory Coast

Charles Konan Banny Stadium, Yamoussoukro

---

26 September 2025 (2025-09-26)

15:00

Ivory Coast	v	Togo

Stade Lycée Scientifique, Yamoussoukro

26 September 2025 (2025-09-26)

15:00

Ghana	v	Niger

Charles Konan Banny Stadium, Yamoussoukro

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Burkina Faso	1	1	0	0	1	0	+1	3	Semi-finals
2	Nigeria	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
3	Benin	1	0	0	1	0	1	−1	0

Updated to match(es) played on 21 September 2025. Source: ^{[ citation needed ]}
Rules for classification: Group stage tiebreakers

21 September 2025 (2025-09-21)

15:00

Burkina Faso	1–0	Benin

Stade Lycée Scientifique, Yamoussoukro

---

24 September 2025 (2025-09-24)

15:00

Benin	v	Nigeria

Stade Lycée Scientifique, Yamoussoukro

---

27 September 2025 (2025-09-27)

15:00

Nigeria	v	Burkina Faso

Stade Lycée Scientifique, Yamoussoukro

Knockout stage

Bracket

	Semi-finals				Final
	30 September – Yamoussoukro
	Ivory Coast
					3 October – Yamoussoukro
	Runner-up Group B
	30 September – Yamoussoukro
	Winner Group B
	Runner-up Group A
					Third place
					3 October – Stade Lycée Scientifique

Semi-finals

Winners qualified for 2026 U-17 Africa Cup of Nations.

30 September 2025 (2025-09-30)

15:00

Ivory Coast	v	Runner-up Group B

Charles Konan Banny Stadium, Yamoussoukro

---

30 September 2025 (2025-09-30)

19:00

Winner Group B	v	Runner-up Group A

Charles Konan Banny Stadium, Yamoussoukro

Third place play-off

3 October 2025 (2025-10-03)

15:00

Loser SF1	v	Loser SF2

Stade Lycée Scientifique, Yamoussoukro

Final

3 October 2025 (2025-10-03)

19:00

Winner SF1	v	Winner SF2

Charles Konan Banny Stadium, Yamoussoukro

South Zone

Main article: 2025 COSAFA Under-17 Championship

The COSAFA qualifiers for the U-17 Africa Cup of Nations were held in Harare, Zimbabwe, from 11 to 20 September 2024. The draw for the groups took place on 5 August 2025.

The qualification structure was as follows:

• Group stage: The 12 teams were divided into three groups, with the group winners and the best runner-up advancing to the knockout stage.
• Knockout stage: The four teams advancing from the second round competed in a three-match knockout round, with the winners of the semifinals qualifying for the final tournament.

Group stage

Group A

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Mozambique	3	2	1	0	5	0	+5	7	Semi-finals
2	Comoros	3	2	1	0	6	2	+4	7
3	Zimbabwe (H)	3	0	1	2	2	4	−2	1
4	Eswatini	3	0	1	2	0	7	−7	1

Source: Soccerway
Rules for classification: Group stage tiebreakers
(H) Hosts

Group B

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	South Africa	3	3	0	0	13	2	+11	9	Semi-finals
2	Malawi	3	2	0	1	6	6	0	6
3	Zambia	3	1	0	2	6	7	−1	3
4	Madagascar	3	0	0	3	3	13	−10	0

Source: Soccerway
Rules for classification: Group stage tiebreakers

Group C

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Angola	3	3	0	0	17	0	+17	9	Semi-finals
2	Lesotho	3	1	1	1	3	7	−4	4
3	Botswana	3	0	2	1	1	6	−5	2
4	Mauritius	3	0	1	2	3	11	−8	1

Source: Soccerway
Rules for classification: Group stage tiebreakers

Knockout stage

	Semi-finals				Final
	18 September – Ngoni Mwos Stadium
	South Africa	7
					20 September – Ngoni Mwos Stadium
	Comoros	0
					South Africa	2
	18 September – Ngoni Mwos Stadium
					Angola	1
	Mozambique	0
	Angola	1
					Third place
					20 September – Ngoni Mwos Stadium
					Comoros	0
					Mozambique	3

Goalscorers

There have been 79 goals scored in 22 matches, for an average of 3.59 goals per match (as of 22 September 2025).

8 goals

• Pedro Antonio

5 goals

• Thandanani Mhlongo

4 goals

• Marcos Lazaro
• Omphemetse Sekgoto

3 goals

• Paulo Luvumbo
• James Lumbe
• Mpho Molepo
• Inganathi Simama

2 goals

• Costantino Chianica
• Eliseu Francisco
• Jairo Muanha
• Fasifdine Ahamada
• Mathis Ali
• William Rambeloson
• Paw Kee
• Chauson Nhabanga
• Ntokozo Madondo
• Mpho Mbilini
• Kelvin Chipelu

1 goal

• Manuel Morais
• Aphelele Majola
• Marcus Koketso
• Kais Ali
• Fahad Mohamed
• Fisane Leanya
• Lechesa Makhupane
• Morena Masithela
• Tinai Razanadrakoto
• Joel Maziya
• Eli Rundles
• Nicholas Fani
• Kristff Machava
• Joaquim Mubai
• Siyabonga Mbongo
• Albert Kunda
• Steven Lungu
• Caleb Musonda
• Mapalo Simute
• Tadiwa Chakuchichi

1 own goal

• Rayad Aboudou
• Irintsoa Rakotoharimalala
• Elvino Andre
• Emmanuel Mbuti

See also

• 2025 U-20 Africa Cup of Nations qualification

References

1. "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.
2. "U-17 AFCON Regulations" (PDF). Retrieved 21 February 2025.
3. "Nigeria face tough defence as Burkina Faso lie in wait at U17 WAFU B AFCON qualifiers". 23 April 2024. Retrieved 20 September 2024.