# 2005 African Youth Championship

The 2005 African Youth Championship was an international football competition that took place between 15 and 29 January 2005. The tournament was hosted by Benin and also served as qualification for the 2005 FIFA World Youth Championship.

## Qualification
### Preliminary round

Burundi and Mauritius withdrew. As a result, the Republic of Congo and Lesotho advanced to the next round.
| Team 1 | Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
| Libya | 2–2(a) | Niger | 2–2 | 0–0 |
| Sierra Leone | (a)1–1 | Gambia | 0–0 | 1–1 |
| Sudan | 3–1 | Somalia | 1–0 | 2–1 |
| Eritrea | 0–1 | Rwanda | 0–1 | 0–0 |
| Namibia | 0–5 | Botswana | 0–0 | 0–5 |

### First round

Republic of Congo, Congo Kinshasa, Ethiopia, Gabon and Tanzania withdrew. As a result, Cameroon, Nigeria, Zambia, Ghana and Zimbabwe advanced to the next round.
| Team 1 | Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
| Algeria | 1–3 | Niger | 1–2 | 0–1 |
| Morocco | 3–1 | Sierra Leone | 3–0 | 0–1 |
| Egypt | 4–0 | Sudan | 4–0 | 0–0 |
| South Africa | 2–2(a) | Lesotho | 2–1 | 0–1 |
| Mozambique | 1–4 | Rwanda | 1–0 | 0–4 |
| Angola | 5–2 | Botswana | 3–0 | 2–2 |
| Ivory Coast | 2–2 (p: 5–4) | Guinea | 2–0 | 0–2 |
| Tunisia | 1–1 (p: 3–5) | Burkina Faso | 1–0 | 0–1 |
| Mali | 3–1 | Senegal | 3–1 | 0–0 |

### Second round

Niger were disqualified by the FIFA. Accusations were made to each other from Lesotho and Zimbabwe of using over-aged players, but no actions were taken.
| Team 1 | Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
| Morocco | DSQ | Niger | 4–0 | not played |
| Zambia | 2–3 | Egypt | 2–0 | 0–3 |
| Zimbabwe | 0–3 | Lesotho | 0–0 | 0–3 |
| Angola | 1–0 | Rwanda | 1–0 | 0–0 |
| Ghana | 1–2 | Ivory Coast | 0–1 | 1–1 |
| Nigeria | 5–2 | Burkina Faso | 2–0 | 3–2 |
| Mali | (a)2–2 | Cameroon | 1–0 | 1–2 |

## Squads

The following teams qualified for the tournament:
* Angola
* Benin (host)
* Ivory Coast
* Egypt
* Lesotho
* Mali
* Morocco
* Nigeria

## Group stage
### Group A

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Nigeria | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 1 | +6 | 9 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 2 | Benin (H) | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 4 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 3 | Ivory Coast | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 5 | −3 | 3 | |
| 4 | Mali | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 7 | −3 | 1 | |

### Group B

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Egypt | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 3 | +4 | 7 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 2 | Morocco | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 2 | +3 | 7 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 3 | Lesotho | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 7 | −4 | 3 | |
| 4 | Angola | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 4 | −3 | 0 | |

## Knock-out Stage

| Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Final | Final |
| 26 January - | 26 January - |
| Nigeria | 2(5) |
| Nigeria | 2(5) | 29 January - | 29 January - |
| Morocco | 2(3) | 29 January - | 29 January - |
| Morocco | 2(3) | Nigeria | 2 |
| 26 January - | 26 January - | | Nigeria | 2 |
| 26 January - | 26 January - | Egypt | 0 |
| Egypt | 1(3) | Egypt | 0 |
| Benin | 1(1) | | |
| Benin | 1(1) | Third place | Third place |
| | | 29 January - | 29 January - |
| | | Morocco | 1(3) |
| | | Benin | 1(5) |

### Final

* 2005 African Youth Championship
* Nigeria Fifth title

## Qualification to World Youth Championship

The four best performing teams qualified for the 2005 FIFA World Youth Championship.
* Benin
* Egypt
* Morocco
* Nigeria

## Goalscorers

| Player name | Goals scored |
| Mouhssine Iajour | 5 |
| David Adwo | 2 |
| Farag Ahmed | 2 |
| Kalifa Dembele | 2 |
| Islam Adel | 2 |
| Solomon Okoronkwo | 2 |
| Tarik Bendamou | 2 |
| Victor Obinna | 2 |
| Taye Taiwo | 2 |
| Abou Maiga | 2 |
| Abdou Abdallah | 1 |
| Abdoulaye Ouzerou | 1 |
| Abdramane Diaby | 1 |
| Bachirou Osseni | 1 |
| Bokang Mothoana | 1 |
| Boubacar Kebe | 1 |
| Coffi Agbessi | 1 |
| Dlomo Monaphathi | 1 |
| Hossam Nasr | 1 |
| Isaac Promise | 1 |
| Islam Siam | 1 |
| Koniba Ladji | 1 |
| Lintho Korie | 1 |
| Manuel Zando | 1 |
| Mathieu Adeniyi | 1 |
| Mohamed Abdallah | 1 |
| Olubayo Adefemi | 1 |
| Rachid Tiberkanine | 1 |
| Razak Omotoyossi | 1 |
| Romuald Boco | 1 |
| Zahiri Yedi | 1 |

## Murder of Samiou Yessoufou

After Benin lost 3-0 to Nigeria on the opening day, Benin fans became outraged with goalkeeper Samiou Yessofou believing he was blamed for their loss. So they broke into a hotel bar just as Yessofou was beginning to drink alcohol for the first time. They grabbed glass bottles and smashed them on him and stabbed with a knife and tortured him with beating sticks. Then they left the bar causing Yessofou to fall the floor and he died. However, this did not stop the tournament which continued as normal and Benin went on to win a bronze medal later on.