# 2023 U-17 Africa Cup of Nations

The 2023 U-17 Africa Cup of Nations known as the TotalEnergies U-17 Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship purposes or 2023 U17 AFCON for short was the 14th edition (19th if editions without hosts are included) of the biennial African youth football tournament organized by Confederation of African Football (CAF) for players aged 17 and below and the first to feature 12 teams in the group stage instead of 8.
Algeria was chosen as hosts of this edition on 15 May 2021 which it organized from 29 April to 19 May. All four semi-finalists qualified for the 2023 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Indonesia as the CAF representatives.
Cameroon were the defending champions but were eliminated in the group stage after losses to Burkina Faso and to Mali. Senegal won their inaugural title, defeating hosts of the cancelled 2021 edition Morocco 2–1 in the final.

## Qualification

The CAF decided on 20 July 2017 that the qualification format should be changed and split according to zones.

### Player eligibility

Players born on 1 January 2006 or later were eligible to participate in this edition of the tournament.

### Qualified teams

The following twelve teams qualified for the group stages. However, South Sudan was disqualified from this edition of the tournament after 5 of its players failed the MRI test.
Note: All appearance statistics count only those since the introduction of the group stages in 1995.
| Team | Zone | Date of qualification | Appearance | Last appearance | Previous best performance |
| Algeria (hosts) | North Zone | 17 May 2021 | 2nd | 2009 | Runners-up (2009) |
| Morocco | North Zone | 14 November 2022 | 3rd | 2019 | Fourth place (2013) |
| Nigeria | West B Zone | 21 June 2022 | 10th | 2019 | Champions (2001, 2007) |
| Burkina Faso | West B Zone | 21 June 2022 | 7th | 2011 | Champions (2011) |
| Senegal | West A Zone | 7 October 2022 | 3rd | 2019 | Group stage (2011, 2019) |
| Mali | West A Zone | 7 October 2022 | 9th | 2017 | Champions (2015, 2017) |
| Cameroon | Central Zone | 15 January 2023 | 8th | 2019 | Champions (2003, 2019) |
| Congo | Central Zone | 18 January 2023 | 3rd | 2013 | Third place (2011) |
| Somalia | Central-East Zone | 12 October 2022 | 1st | None | Debut |
| South Sudan | Central-East Zone | 12 October 2022 | 1st | None | Debut |
| South Africa | South Zone | 9 December 2022 | 4th | 2015 | Runners-up (2015) |
| Zambia | South Zone | 9 December 2022 | 2nd | 2015 | Group stage (2015) |

## Venues

The Algerian Football Federation choose three venues in three cities across the host nation Algeria for hosting this edition of the competition: Algiers, Annaba and Constantine.
| AlgiersAnnabaConstantine | AlgiersAnnabaConstantine | Algiers | Annaba |
| AlgiersAnnabaConstantine | AlgiersAnnabaConstantine | Nelson Mandela Stadium | 19 May 1956 Stadium |
| AlgiersAnnabaConstantine | AlgiersAnnabaConstantine | Capacity: 40,784 | Capacity: 58,100 |
| Constantine ||
| Mohamed Hamlaoui Stadium ||
| Capacity: 22,986 ||

## Match officials
### Referees

* Patrice Mebiame
* Youcef Gamouh
* Vincentia Amedome
* Muhammad Elmabrouk
* Ousmane Diakaté
* Merveil Mandekouzou Vendafara
* Akhona Makalima
* Nyagrowa Dickens
* Adalbert Diouf
* Ahmed Arajiga
* Soro Tuonifere
* Jeannot Bito
* Jelly Alfred Chavani
* Ben Amisy Tsimanohitsy
* Abdulsalam Kasim

### Assistant referees

* Adolf Lamien Dofinte
* Sirak Menghis
* Abel Abane
* Diana Chikotesha
* Ronald Katenya
* Queency Victoire
* Wael Hannachi
* Asma Feriel Ouahab
* Stephen Yembe
* Fanta Kone
* Guylain Ngila
* Lucky Kegakologetswe
* Djery Gomes Lopes
* Carine Atezambong Fomo
* Mohamed Serradj
* Eba Médard Ettien
* Youssef Mahmoud
* Mamadou Ngom
* Mary Njoroge

### Video assistant referees

* Lahlou Benbraham
* Ahmed El Ghandour
* Ahmad Heeralall

## Draw

The group stage draw was conducted on 1 February 2023 at 12:00 WET (UTC±0) at the Cercle National de l'Armée in Algiers, the capital city of hosts Algeria. The 12 teams were drawn into 3 groups of 4 teams. As hosts, Algeria was seeded in Group A and allocated to position A1, while 2019 champions Cameroon was seeded in Group C and allocated to position C1 and 4th-place-finished team also from the 2019 edition Nigeria was seeded in Group B and allocated to position B1; the remaining nine teams were seeded based on their results in the previous valid edition in 2019.
| Seeded | Pot 1 | Pot 2 |
| Algeria (hosts) (A1) Nigeria (B1) Cameroon (C1) | Morocco Senegal Mali | Congo Somalia South Africa Zambia Burkina Faso South Sudan |

## Group stage
### Tiebreakers

Teams were ranked according to the three points for a win (3 for a win, 1 for a draw and 0 or none for a loss) and if tied on points, the following tie-breaking criteria were applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings (Regulations Article 13):
* Points in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
* Goal difference in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
* Goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
* If more than two teams are tied, and after applying all head-to-head criteria above, a subset of teams are still tied, all head-to-head criteria above are reapplied exclusively to this subset of teams;
* Goal difference in all group matches;
* Goals scored in all group matches;
* Drawing of lots.
All times are local, WAT and CET (UTC+1).

### Group A

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Senegal | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 | +7 | 9 | Knockout stage |
| 2 | Algeria (H) | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4 | −1 | 4 | Knockout stage |
| 3 | Congo | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | −1 | 2 | Knockout stage |
| 4 | Somalia | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 6 | −5 | 1 | |

### Group B

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Morocco | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 2 | +2 | 6 | Knockout stage |
| 2 | Nigeria | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 3 | +1 | 6 | Knockout stage |
| 3 | South Africa | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 7 | −2 | 3 | Knockout stage |
| 4 | Zambia | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 5 | −1 | 3 | |

### Group C

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Mali | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | +3 | 6 | Knockout stage |
| 2 | Burkina Faso | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 3 | Knockout stage |
| 3 | Cameroon | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 4 | −3 | 0 | |
| 4 | South Sudan | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Disqualified |

### Ranking of third-placed teams

With South Sudan's disqualification, rankings against the fourth-placed team of group A and B were not counted.
| Pos | Grp | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | A | Congo | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | −1 | 1 | Knockout stage |
| 2 | B | South Africa | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 5 | −3 | 0 | Knockout stage |
| 3 | C | Cameroon | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 4 | −3 | 0 | |

## Knockout stage
### Bracket

| Quarter-finals | Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | | Final | Final |
| 10 May – Algiers | 10 May – Algiers | | | |
| Senegal | 5 | | | |
| Senegal | 5 | 14 May – Annaba | 14 May – Annaba | | |
| South Africa | 0 | 14 May – Annaba | 14 May – Annaba | |
| South Africa | 0 | Senegal (p) | 1 (5) | |
| 11 May – Algiers | 11 May – Algiers | | Senegal (p) | 1 (5) | |
| 11 May – Algiers | 11 May – Algiers | Burkina Faso | 1 (4) | |
| Nigeria | 1 | Burkina Faso | 1 (4) | |
| Nigeria | 1 | | | | 19 May –Algiers | 19 May –Algiers |
| Burkina Faso | 2 | | | | 19 May –Algiers | 19 May –Algiers |
| Burkina Faso | 2 | | | | Senegal | 2 |
| 10 May – Constantine | 10 May – Constantine | | | | | Senegal | 2 |
| 10 May – Constantine | 10 May – Constantine | | | | Morocco | 1 |
| Morocco | 3 | | | | Morocco | 1 |
| Morocco | 3 | 14 May – Constantine | 14 May – Constantine | | | |
| Algeria | 0 | 14 May – Constantine | 14 May – Constantine | | | |
| Algeria | 0 | Morocco (p) | 0 (6) | | | |
| 11 May – Annaba | 11 May – Annaba | | Morocco (p) | 0 (6) | | | |
| 11 May – Annaba | 11 May – Annaba | Mali | 0 (5) | | Third place | Third place |
| Mali | 3 | Mali | 0 (5) | | Third place | Third place |
| Mali | 3 | | | | 18 May – Annaba | 18 May – Annaba |
| Congo | 0 | | | | 18 May – Annaba | 18 May – Annaba |
| Congo | 0 | | | | Burkina Faso | 2 |
| | | | | | Mali | 1 |

### Quarter finals

Winners qualified for the 2023 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Indonesia.

### Final
## Winners

* 2023 U-17 Africa Cup of Nations
* Senegal First title

## Awards

The following awards were given at the conclusion of the tournament:
| Golden Boot | Most Valuable Player | Best Goalkeeper | Coach of the Tournament | Fair Play award |
| Amara Diouf | Souleymane Alio | Serigne Diouf | Said Chiba | Morocco |
* Best XI:
| Goalkeeper | Defenders | Midfielders | Forwards |
| Serigne Diouf | Lassina Traoré Abdelhamid Ait Boudlal Serigne Fallou Diouf Yahaya Lawali | Sékou Koné Abdou Aziz Fall Rachid Ouedraogo | Amara Diouf Souleymane Alio Mamadou Doumbia |

## Goalscorers

There were 58 goals scored in 23 matches, for an average of 2.52 goals per match.
5 goals
* Amara Diouf
4 goals
* Mamadou Doumbia
3 goals
* Moslem Anatouf
* Zakaria Ouazane
* Vicky Mkhawana
* Emmanuel Mwanza
2 goals
* Souleymane Alio
* Aboubacar Camara
* Mahamoud Barry
* Abdelhamid Ait Boudlal
* Abubakar Abdullahi
* Serigne Fallou Diouf
* Mamadou Savane
1 goal
* Appolinaire Bougma
* Ousmane Camara
* Rachide Ouédraogo
* Matah Yondjio
* Joseph Ndzoukou
* Wumba Nzouzi
* Ange Martial Tia
* Adam Chakir
* Adam Hanin
* Abdelhamid Maâli
* Charles Agada
* Favour Daniel
* Light Eke
* Yaya Diémé
* Abdou Aziz Fall
* Mamadou Sadio
* Diini Mohamed
* Michael Dokunmu
* Siyabonga Mabena
* Samson Malaya
1 own goal
* Said Mohamed (against Senegal)
* Waylon Renecke (against Senegal)
* Benjamin Wallis (against Senegal)

## Qualified teams for the 2023 FIFA U-17 World Cup

The following teams from CAF qualified for the 2023 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Indonesia.
| Team | Qualified on | Previous appearances in FIFA U-17 World Cup |
| Senegal | 10 May 2023 | 1 (2019) |
| Morocco | 10 May 2023 | 1 (2013) |
| Mali | 11 May 2023 | 5 (1997, 1999, 2001, 2015, 2017) |
| Burkina Faso | 11 May 2023 | 4 (1999, 2001, 2009, 2011) |
    $^1$ Bold indicates champions for that year. Italic indicates hosts for that year.