2023 U-20 Africa Cup of Nations

2023 U-20 Africa Cup of Nations
The 2023 U-20 Africa Cup of Nations, known as the 2023 U20 AFCON or 2023 AFCON U20 for short and as the 2023 TotalEnergies U-20 Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship purposes, was the 17th edition (24th if editions of the tournament without hosts are included) of the biennial African international youth football tournament organized by the Confederation of African Football, currently hosted in Egypt from 19 February to 11 March 2023. Senegal won the tournament for the first time, defeating Gambia in the final and did not concede a single goal the entire tournament.
This edition of the tournament also doubles as the African qualifiers for the 2023 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Argentina where teams who reached the semi-finals stage qualified automatically.
Ghana were the defending champions following their 4th title win in 2021, but failed to qualify for this edition after losing to Nigeria in the WAFU sub-regional qualification tournament.
Qualification
Player eligibility
Players born 1 January 2003 or later are eligible to participate in the competition.
Qualified teams
The following 12 teams qualified for the group stages:
Venues
Match officials
On 18 February 2023, CAF announced a total of 16 referees (including 2 women), 18 assistant referees (including 4 women) and 6 video assistant referees (VAR) appointed for the tournament.
Referees
Issa Mouhamed
Hamidou Diero
Mohamed Athoumani
Yannick Kabanga Malala
Clement Franklin Kpan
Mohamed Diraneh Guedi
Mahmoud Ahmed Nagy
Lamin Jammeh
Ahmed Abdulrazg
Sory Ibrahima Keita
Jallal Jayed
Bouchra Karboubi
Omar Abdulkadir Artan
Jean-Claude Ishimwe
El Hadj Amadou Sy
Akhona Makalima
Assistant referees
Hamza Bouzit
Pascal Ndimunzigo
Styven Moutsassi
Yara Atef
Mohamed Abouzid Sami Halhal
Yehualashet Fasika Biru
Roland Nii Dodoo
Joel Wonka Doe
Dimbiniaina Andriatianarivelo
Fanta Idrissa Kone
Fatiha Jermoumi
Soukaina Hamdi
Abdoul Aziz Moctar Saley
Igho Hope
Shaji Padayachy
Omer Hamid Mohamed Ahmed
Jonathan Ahonto Koffi
Mohamed Bakir
Video assistant referees
Elvis Noupoue
Mahmoud Ashour
Ahmed Elghandour
Daniel Nii Laryea
Dahane Beida
El Hadj Malick Samba
Squads
Draw
The draw for the group stage was held at CAF's headquarters in Cairo, Egypt on 23 December 2022 at 19:00 EST (UTC+2). The 12 teams were drawn into 3 groups of 4 with the teams seeded according to their performance in the previous edition of the tournament. Hosts Egypt automatically seeded and assigned to Position A1 in the draw.
Group stage
The top two teams of each group advance to the quarter-finals along with the two best 3rd-placed teams.
Tiebreakers
Teams are ranked according to points (3 for a win, 1 for a draw and none for a loss), and if tied on points, the following tie-breaking criteria are 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 in EST (UTC+2).
Group A
Group B
Group C
Ranking of third-placed teams
Knockout stage
Quarter-finals
Winners qualify for the 2023 FIFA U-20 World Cup.
Semi-finals
Third place
Final
Goalscorers
Awards
The following awards were given at the conclusion of the tournament:
Team of the Tournament
Qualified teams for the FIFA U-20 World Cup
The following teams from CAF qualified for the 2023 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Argentina.
1 Bold indicates champions for that year. Italic indicates hosts for that year.
See also
2023 U-17 Africa Cup of Nations
References
2023 FIFA U-20 World Cup qualification
2023 in African football
2023 in youth association football
U-20 Africa Cup of Nations
International association football competitions hosted by Egypt
2023 Africa U-20 Cup of Nations
Africa Cup of Nations
Africa Cup of Nations