Seeded Flying Eagles May Face Egypt, Morocco, South Africa In Thursday U20 AFCON Draw

Seeded Flying Eagles May Face Egypt, Morocco, South Africa In Thursday U20 AFCON Draw

By Niyi Busari

 Seeded Flying Eagles may be drawn against Morocco, South Africa and other countries in Pot 2, 3, 4 and 5 in the final draw for the CAF Under-20 Africa Cup of Nations.

The tournament will be hosted by Cote d’Ivoire and the draw takes place on Thursday 13 February at CAF headquarters in Cairo.

The Final Draw will be broadcast live on CAF TV and former Mali international ⁠Adama Coulibaly and ex-Senegal star Souleymane Camara will act as draw assistants.

The tournament will see 13 teams compete from 26 April – 18 May, 2025, with the top four nations to qualify for the 2025 FIFA Under-20 World Cup that will be staged in Chile from 27 September-19 October, 2025.

Teams qualified for the TotalEnergies CAF Under-20 Africa Cup of Nations, Cote d’Ivoire 2025.

Cote d’Ivoire (hosts), DR Congo, Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tanzania, UNIFFAC 2 and Zambia.

Format of the tournament

The teams will be divided into three Groups (A, B and C), with Group A containing five teams and Groups B and C four sides each. Cote d’Ivoire, as the host country, is automatically preassigned to position A1 in Group A.

The remainder of the seeds for each group have been determined via the final placings in the TotalEnergies CAF Under-20 AFCON, Egypt 2023.

Holders Senegal take up position C1 and Nigeria, who finished third two years ago, take up position B1.

The identity of the second team from the UNIFFAC Zonal Union is still to be determined following Congo’s FIFA suspension, but the team representing UNIFFAC will be in Pot 1 (Level 2) along with Egypt and Zambia. The teams in Pot 1 will be drawn into positions A2, B2 and C2.

The top two teams in each group qualify for the quarter-finals along with the two best third-placed sides, before the competition continues in a knockout format.

Tournament procedures

The draw will be made using five separate pots:

Pot 1: Egypt, UNIFFAC 2, Zambia (Level 2 teams)

Pot 2: Ghana, DR Congo, Kenya, Morocco, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tanzania

Pot 3: Positions A2, B2 & C2

Pot 4: Positions A3, B3 & C3

Pot 5: Positions A4, B4 & C4

Level 2 teams will be drawn to occupy positions A2, B2 and C2. The remaining teams will be drawn to occupy positions A3, B3, C3, A4, B4 and C4. The last remaining team will automatically be placed in A5.