# U-23 Africa Cup of Nations

The U-23 Africa Cup of Nations, known for sponsorship purposes as the TotalEnergies U-23 Africa Cup of Nations, or simply U-23 AFCON or U-23 CAN, is the quadrennial African football tournament organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) for its nations, consisting of players under 23 years of age, and was first held in 2011. It has been held every four years since its Inauguration. The top three nations qualify directly from every edition of this tournament for the football tournament of the Olympic Games.
Egypt, Gabon, Morocco and Nigeria are the most successful teams in this tournament with each winning a single title. Morocco and Egypt are the only country to have played the final twice. Morocco are the tournament's current champions, having beaten Egypt 2-1 in the 2023 final.

## History

Beginning in 1956, the year before the foundation of CAF, there has been qualification tournaments for the Olympic Games football tournament for African teams, but they were on a home-and-away basis. In 2011, CAF formed a full-time standalone qualification tournament to align with the upgrades to its U-20 and U-17 competitions and named it the African U-23 Championship. On 6 August 2015, the CAF Executive Committee decided to change the tournament's name to the Africa U-23 Cup of Nations, similar to the senior's version, Africa Cup of Nations. However the name on the tournament logo for the forthcoming 2015 edition would read as the U-23 Africa Cup of Nations.
On 21 July 2016, French energy and petroleum giant TotalEnergies (formerly Total S.A.) secured an 8-year sponsorship package from CAF to support its competitions.
Egypt hosted the 2019 tournament, and was won by them, making Egypt the first host nation to win the title in home country.
The 2023 tournament was hosted by Morocco, making it the second time the country has hosted this tournament. The tournament started on 24 June and ended on 8 July. The Final between Egypt and Morocco was held at Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium in Rabat. Morocco defeated Egypt 2–1, to win their first ever title.

## Results

Coincidently, every final has had the same scoreline.
| Year | Host | Final | Final | Final | Third place match | Third place match | Third place match |
| Year | Host | Winner | Score | Runners-up | Third place | Score | Fourth place |
| 2011 | Morocco | Gabon | 2–1 | Morocco | Egypt | 2–0 | Senegal |
| 2015 | Senegal | Nigeria | 2–1 | Algeria | South Africa | 0–0 (3–1 p) | Senegal |
| 2019 | Egypt | Egypt | 2–1 (a.e.t.) | Ivory Coast | South Africa | 2–2 (6–5 p) | Ghana |
| 2023 | Morocco | Morocco | 2–1 (a.e.t.) | Egypt | Mali | 0–0 (4–3 p) | Guinea |

## Successful national teams

| Team | Champions | Runners-up | Third-place | Fourth-place |
| Egypt | 1 (2019*) | 1 (2023) | 1 (2011) | – |
| Morocco | 1 (2023*) | 1 (2011*) | – | – |
| Gabon | 1 (2011) | – | – | – |
| Nigeria | 1 (2015) | – | – | – |
| Algeria | – | 1 (2015) | – | – |
| Ivory Coast | – | 1 (2019) | – | – |
| South Africa | – | – | 2 (2015, 2019) | – |
| Mali | – | – | 1 (2023) | – |
| Senegal | – | – | – | 2 (2011, 2015*) |
| Ghana | – | – | – | 1 (2019) |
| Guinea | – | – | – | 1 (2023) |
*= Hosts

## Participating nations

| Team | 2011 (8) | 2015 (8) | 2019 (8) | 2023 (8) | Years |
| Algeria | GS | 2nd | • | • | 2 |
| Cameroon | • | • | GS | • | 1 |
| Congo | • | • | • | GS | 1 |
| Egypt | 3rd | GS | 1st | 2nd | 4 |
| Gabon | 1st | • | • | GS | 2 |
| Ghana | • | • | 4th | GS | 2 |
| Guinea | • | × | • | 4th | 1 |
| Ivory Coast | GS | • | 2nd | • | 2 |
| Mali | • | GS | GS | 3rd | 3 |
| Morocco | 2nd | • | • | 1st | 2 |
| Niger | × | × | • | GS | 1 |
| Nigeria | GS | 1st | GS | • | 3 |
| Senegal | 4th | 4th | • | • | 2 |
| South Africa | GS | 3rd | 3rd | • | 3 |
| Tunisia | • | GS | • | • | 1 |
| Zambia | • | GS | GS | • | 2 |

### Legend
## Results at the Olympics (2012–present)

| Nation | 12 | 16 | 20 | 24 | Years |
| Algeria | – | 14 | – | – | 1 |
| Egypt | 8 | – | 8 | 4 | 3 |
| Gabon | 12 | – | – | – | 1 |
| Guinea | – | – | – | 16 | 1 |
| Ivory Coast | – | – | 7 | – | 1 |
| Mali | – | – | – | 14 | 1 |
| Morocco | 11 | – | – | 3 | 2 |
| Nigeria | – | 3 | – | – | 1 |
| Senegal | 6 | – | – | – | 1 |
| South Africa | – | 13 | 16 | – | 2 |

## Awards
### Player of the Tournament

Originally called the "Most Valuable Player (MVP)" until the 2019 edition.
| Year | Golden Player |
| 2015 | Azubuike Okechukwu |
| 2019 | Ramadan Sobhi |
| 2023 | Ibrahim Adel |

### Goalkeeper of the Tournament

| Year | Best Goalkeeper |
| 2015 | Abdelkader Salhi |
| 2019 | Mohamed Sobhy |
| 2023 | Hamza Alaa |

### Top goalscorer

This is awarded to the player(s) who score the most goals during each edition of the tournament.
| Edition | Top goalscorer | Goals |
| Morocco 2011 | Abdelaziz Barrada Raheem Lawal | 3 |
| Senegal 2015 | Etebo Oghenekaro | 5 |
| Egypt 2019 | Mostafa Mohamed | 4 |
| Morocco 2023 | Abde Ezzalzouli Yanis Begraoui Emmanuel Yeboah | 3 |