These tournament with odd number of participant in CAF are ridiculous stupid!!!amenina wrote: Thu Feb 13, 2025 15:44 https://www.cafonline.com/caf-u-20-afri ... -in-cairo/
Final Draw for the TotalEnergies CAF Under-20 Africa Cup of Nations, Côte d'Ivoire 2025 Concludes in Cairo
Published: Thursday, 13 February 2025
The Confédération Africaine de Football (CAF) conducted the Final Draw for the TotalEnergies CAF Under-20 Africa Cup of Nations, Côte d'Ivoire 2025 on Thursday, 13 February 2025, at CAF headquarters in Cairo, Egypt.
The draw event was attended by CAF executives and invited guests with former Mali international Adama Coulibaly and Senegal legend Souleymane Camara acting as draw assistants.
The tournament, set to take place from 26 April to 18 May 2025, will feature 13 teams competing for continental glory and four qualification spots for the FIFA U-20 World Cup Chile 2025.
The draw produced exciting group stage fixtures, with heavyweight clashes expected from the opening rounds as record title holders Nigeria were among three former winners placed in the same group.
The Flying Eagles will play in Group B where they will face former champions Egypt and Morocco as well as South Africa.
In Group A, hosts Côte d'Ivoire will take on DR Congo, Ghana, Tanzania, and a second representative from the UNIFFAC region, making it one of the most competitive groups.
Group C sees Senegal begin their title defence against Zambia, Kenya, and Sierra Leone, promising another fiercely contested group.
The TotalEnergies CAF U-20 AFCON 2025 will follow a three-group format, with Group A containing five teams, while Groups B and C each feature four teams.
The top two teams from each group will qualify for the quarter-finals, along with the two best third-placed teams. From there, the tournament will proceed in a knockout format, culminating in the final on 18 May 2025.
Additionally, the four semi-finalists will book their place at the FIFA U-20 World Cup Chile 2025 later this year, continuing Africa’s proud tradition of excellence on the world stage.
Senegal, the defending champions, are chasing a second title after winning in Egypt 2023. However, they will face stiff competition from Nigeria, the most successful team in the tournament’s history with seven titles (1983, 1985, 1987, 1989, 2005, 2011, and 2015).
Ghana, another continental powerhouse, will look to reclaim the title, having won it four times and making history in 2009 by becoming the first and only African team to win the FIFA U-20 World Cup.
Egypt, Morocco, and Zambia, all former champions, will also be looking to make an impact, while Côte d'Ivoire aims to shine on home soil.
The groups of the TotalEnergies CAF Under-20 Africa Cup of Nations, Cote d’Ivoire 2025
Group A
Cote d’Ivoire
UNIFFAC 2*
DR Congo
Ghana
Tanzania
Group B
Nigeria
Egypt
South Africa
Morocco
Group C
Senegal
Zambia
Kenya
Sierra Leone
Draw video: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=04CveWwpIrA
Because there is 2 teams per zone and Côte d’Ivoire did not otherwise qualify so CAF decide to make it 13. The irony is Congo disqualify so they could make it easy 12 teams by having CIV as UNIFAAC 2. Or better still go to 16 team like U17.
It would make more sense for that zone to have only one spot qualified from qualifiers, and another spot reserved for the host team. They did so in 2021 and weird not this time.Renard207 wrote: Fri Feb 14, 2025 19:41Because there is 2 teams per zone and Côte d’Ivoire did not otherwise qualify so CAF decide to make it 13. The irony is Congo disqualify so they could make it easy 12 teams by having CIV as UNIFAAC 2. Or better still go to 16 team like U17.
It is most unprofessional organisation in the football.
The U20 AFCON was expanded from 8 to 12 teams in 2021, and since then, zonal qualifiers were used to determine the qualified teams, with each of the 6 zones having 2 teams in the final tournament. Usually, the host country was determine before the start of the qualifiers, and so would occupy one of the 2 berths of their zone, while the other berth would go to the winner of the zonal qualifiers. For example, Egypt were the hosts for 2023, and the other 4 teams in UNAF played the qualifiers, with the winner only (Tunisia) qualifying for the final tournament. So this means the zone of the host country did not have an additional 3rd team.
Thanks for the details. I wonder why they were motivated not to choose the host from the qualified? Of course, it's possible nobody wanted it, but some of Africa's top teams are here, and it would be surprising if no one went for it.amenina wrote: Sat Feb 15, 2025 10:00The U20 AFCON was expanded from 8 to 12 teams in 2021, and since then, zonal qualifiers were used to determine the qualified teams, with each of the 6 zones having 2 teams in the final tournament. Usually, the host country was determine before the start of the qualifiers, and so would occupy one of the 2 berths of their zone, while the other berth would go to the winner of the zonal qualifiers. For example, Egypt were the hosts for 2023, and the other 4 teams in UNAF played the qualifiers, with the winner only (Tunisia) qualifying for the final tournament. So this means the zone of the host country did not have an additional 3rd team.
However, this time, the CAF did not appoint the hosts before the qualifiers, so each zone played their own competition, with the top 2 earning qualification to the final tournament. Now the CAF could have appointed one of these 12 teams to become the hosts, and the rumor was the South Africa would get the nod. However, the CAF decided to appoint Cote d'Ivoire, who have failed to qualify as they finished 3rd in WAFU B qualifying.
Now what should CAF do? They could hold the tournament in Cote d'Ivoire without having the host country playing in it, but that would be weird. Or they could remove any of those 12 teams and replace them with the hosts. For example, they could say WAFU B only have 2 slots, so the runner-up of their qualifying competition (Ghana) would be excluded in favor of the host country. But that would be unfair as they already thought they had qualified. Or perhaps just like the U17 AFCON, they could have expanded the U20 AFCON to 16 teams by adding 3 more teams, which seems like the most logical solution.
But of course we are here talking about the CAF, so they just stick one more team and have 13 teams competing in the final tournament. At least if they had gone with 4 groups, one with 4 teams and three with 3 teams, that may make more sense organization wise. But they seem to like 5-team groups, as in CHAN they have 19 teams being divided into three with 5 teams and one with 4 teams. And the decision to organize a 2nd CHAN qualifying tournament for teams who did not register at the first time, instead of choosing the best non-qualified teams (like Rwanda) to fill out vacancies in the final tournament due to withdrawals was even more bizarre.
Since the bidding information is not made public, we can only guess that there is no restriction by CAF that only those 12 countries which have qualified can bid. Côte d’Ivoire just hosted AFCON last year, so even as we do not know who are the other bidders, it is not controversial that they could be the best candidate. And as they already missed out on qualifying on the field, perhaps they were quite desperate to qualify through the “back door”, and thus CAF granted them their “wish”.Lorric wrote: Sat Feb 15, 2025 21:22Thanks for the details. I wonder why they were motivated not to choose the host from the qualified? Of course, it's possible nobody wanted it, but some of Africa's top teams are here, and it would be surprising if no one went for it.amenina wrote: Sat Feb 15, 2025 10:00The U20 AFCON was expanded from 8 to 12 teams in 2021, and since then, zonal qualifiers were used to determine the qualified teams, with each of the 6 zones having 2 teams in the final tournament. Usually, the host country was determine before the start of the qualifiers, and so would occupy one of the 2 berths of their zone, while the other berth would go to the winner of the zonal qualifiers. For example, Egypt were the hosts for 2023, and the other 4 teams in UNAF played the qualifiers, with the winner only (Tunisia) qualifying for the final tournament. So this means the zone of the host country did not have an additional 3rd team.
However, this time, the CAF did not appoint the hosts before the qualifiers, so each zone played their own competition, with the top 2 earning qualification to the final tournament. Now the CAF could have appointed one of these 12 teams to become the hosts, and the rumor was the South Africa would get the nod. However, the CAF decided to appoint Cote d'Ivoire, who have failed to qualify as they finished 3rd in WAFU B qualifying.
Now what should CAF do? They could hold the tournament in Cote d'Ivoire without having the host country playing in it, but that would be weird. Or they could remove any of those 12 teams and replace them with the hosts. For example, they could say WAFU B only have 2 slots, so the runner-up of their qualifying competition (Ghana) would be excluded in favor of the host country. But that would be unfair as they already thought they had qualified. Or perhaps just like the U17 AFCON, they could have expanded the U20 AFCON to 16 teams by adding 3 more teams, which seems like the most logical solution.
But of course we are here talking about the CAF, so they just stick one more team and have 13 teams competing in the final tournament. At least if they had gone with 4 groups, one with 4 teams and three with 3 teams, that may make more sense organization wise. But they seem to like 5-team groups, as in CHAN they have 19 teams being divided into three with 5 teams and one with 4 teams. And the decision to organize a 2nd CHAN qualifying tournament for teams who did not register at the first time, instead of choosing the best non-qualified teams (like Rwanda) to fill out vacancies in the final tournament due to withdrawals was even more bizarre.