2023 U-20 Africa Cup of Nations qualification

2023 Africa U-20 Cup of Nations qualification

Tournament details
Host countries	Egypt (North Zone) Mauritania (West A Zone) Niger (West B Zone) Congo (Central Zone) Sudan (Central-East Zone) Eswatini (South Zone)
Dates	7 May – 14 December 2022
Teams	46
Tournament statistics
Matches played	79
Goals scored	212 (2.68 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Danilson Makokisa (5 goals)
← 2021 2025 →

The 2023 U-20 Africa Cup of Nations qualification was a men's under-20 football competition which decided the participating teams of the 2023 Africa U-20 Cup of Nations.

Players born 1 January 2003 or later were eligible to participate in the competition. A total of twelve teams qualified to play in the final tournament, including Egypt who qualified automatically as hosts.^[1]

Zone	Spots	Teams entering qualification	Did not enter
North Zone (UNAF)	1 spot + hosts	Algeria  Libya  Morocco  Tunisia	Egypt (Q, H)
West A Zone (WAFU-UFOA A)	2 spot	Cape Verde  Gambia  Guinea  Guinea-Bissau  Liberia  Mali  Mauritania (H)  Senegal  Sierra Leone
West B Zone (WAFU-UFOA B)	2 spots	Benin  Burkina Faso  Ghana  Ivory Coast  Niger (H)  Nigeria  Togo
Central Zone (UNIFFAC)	2 spots	Cameroon  Central African Republic  Chad (W)[note 1]  Congo (H)  DR Congo  Equatorial Guinea (W)[note 1]  São Tomé and Príncipe (W)[note 1]	Gabon
Central-East Zone (CECAFA)	2 spots	Burundi  Djibouti  Ethiopia  South Sudan  Sudan (H)  Tanzania  Uganda	Eritrea  Kenya  Rwanda  Somalia
South Zone (COSAFA)	2 spots	Angola  Botswana  Comoros  Eswatini (H)  Lesotho  Malawi  Mauritius  Mozambique  Namibia  Seychelles  South Africa  Zambia	Madagascar  Zimbabwe

Notes

• Teams in bold qualified for the final tournament.
• (H): Qualifying tournament hosts
• (Q): Automatically qualified for final tournament regardless of qualification results
• (W): Withdrew

The qualifying competition was split into regional competitions, with the teams entering the qualifying tournament of their zone. The schedule of each qualifying zone was as follows.

Zone	Group stage	Knockout stage
West B Zone[3]	7–14 May 2022	17–20 May 2022
West A Zone[4]	28 August–6 September 2022	9–11 September 2022
South Zone[5]	7–12 October 2022	14–16 October 2022
North Zone[6]	18–24 October 2022	—
Central-East Zone[7]	28 October–5 November 2022	8–11 November 2022
Central Zone[8]	8–14 December 2022	—

The 2022 UNAF U-20 Tournament, which also served as the qualifiers for the Africa U-20 Cup of Nations, took place between 18 and 24 October 2022 in Suez, Egypt.^[6] The draw for the fixtures was held on 20 July 2022.^[9][10] The four teams were placed in one group, with the winner qualifying for the final tournament.

All times are local, EGY (UTC+2).

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Tunisia	3	1	2	0	5	4	+1	5	2023 Africa U-20 Cup of Nations
2	Libya	3	1	1	1	2	2	0	4[a]
3	Morocco	3	1	1	1	2	1	+1	4[a]
4	Algeria	3	0	2	1	5	7	−2	2

---

---

The WAFU-UFOA Zone A qualifiers for the Africa U-20 Cup of Nations were hosted by Mauritania with the matches played between 28 August–11 September 2022.^[4] The matches were played at Nouakchott, Mauritania.^[11]

All times are local, GMT (UTC+0).

The seven teams were drawn into two groups of four and five teams. The winners and the runners-up of each group advanced to the semi-finals.

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Mali	3	2	1	0	6	1	+5	7	Semi-finals
2	Mauritania (H)	3	2	1	0	5	2	+3	7
3	Sierra Leone	3	1	0	2	4	6	−2	3
4	Guinea-Bissau	3	0	0	3	2	8	−6	0

---

---

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Senegal	4	3	1	0	9	3	+6	10	Semi-finals
2	Gambia	4	2	1	1	6	2	+4	7
3	Guinea	4	2	1	1	9	6	+3	7
4	Cape Verde	4	1	0	3	2	10	−8	3
5	Liberia	4	0	1	3	7	12	−5	1

---

---

---

---

Winners qualified for 2023 Africa U-20 Cup of Nations.

	Semi-finals				Final
	9 September – Cheikha Boïdiya
	Mali	1 (2)
					11 September – Cheikha Boïdiya
	Gambia (p)	1 (4)
					Gambia	0
	9 September – Cheikha Boïdiya
					Senegal	1
	Senegal	4
	Mauritania	1

Semi-finals

Final

The WAFU-UFOA Zone B qualifiers for the Africa U-20 Cup of Nations were hosted by Niger with the matches played between 7–20 May 2022. The draw was announced on 15 April 2022.^[12]

All times are local, WAT (UTC+1).

The seven teams were drawn into two groups of three and four teams. The winners and the runners-up of each group advanced to the semi-finals.

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Benin	3	2	1	0	2	0	+2	7	Semi-finals
2	Ivory Coast	3	2	0	1	3	1	+2	6
3	Niger (H)	3	1	1	1	1	1	0	4
4	Togo	3	0	0	3	0	4	−4	0

---

---

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Nigeria	2	1	1	0	4	2	+2	4	Semi-finals
2	Burkina Faso	2	1	1	0	4	3	+1	4
3	Ghana	2	0	0	2	1	4	−3	0

---

---

	Semi-finals				Final
	17 May – Général Seyni Kountché
	Benin	2
					20 May – Général Seyni Kountché
	Burkina Faso	1
					Benin	1
	17 May – Général Seyni Kountché
					Nigeria	3
	Nigeria	2
	Ivory Coast	1
					Third place
					20 May – Général Seyni Kountché
					Burkina Faso	2
					Ivory Coast	0

Semi-finals

Winners qualified for 2023 Africa U-20 Cup of Nations.

Third place

Final

The UNIFFAC qualifiers for the Africa U-20 Cup of Nations were held in Congo between 8–14 December 2022.^[8]

The seven participating teams were drawn into two groups of four and three teams, with Congo, DR Congo, the Central African Republic and São Tomé and Príncipe drawn in Group A; and Cameroon, Chad and Equatorial Guinea drawn into Group B. However, on 25 November, São Tomé and Príncipe withdrew from the competition, with Chad and Equatorial Guinea following suit.^{[note 1]}

The four remaining teams were then placed in one group with the winners and the runners-up qualifying for the final tournament.^[13][14]

All times are local, WAT (UTC+1).

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Congo (H)	3	2	1	0	7	2	+5	7	2023 Africa U-20 Cup of Nations
2	Central African Republic	3	2	0	1	3	3	0	6
3	Cameroon	3	0	2	1	2	3	−1	2
4	DR Congo	3	0	1	2	1	5	−4	1

---

---

The CECAFA qualifiers for the Africa U-20 Cup of Nations were hosted by Sudan between 28 October and 11 November 2022.^[15][7] The draw for the fixtures was held on 11 October 2022.^[16]

All times are local, CAT (UTC+2).

The seven teams were drawn into two groups of three and four teams. The winners and the runners-up of each group advanced to the semi-finals.

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Sudan (H)	3	2	1	0	2	0	+2	7	Semi-finals
2	South Sudan	3	1	2	0	1	0	+1	5
3	Burundi	3	1	1	1	5	1	+4	4
4	Djibouti	3	0	0	3	0	7	−7	0

---

---

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Ethiopia	2	1	1	0	3	2	+1	4	Semi-finals
2	Uganda	2	1	0	1	2	1	+1	3
3	Tanzania	2	0	1	1	2	4	−2	1

---

---

	Semi-finals				Final
	8 November – Al-Hilal Stadium
	Ethiopia	2 (2)
					11 November – Al-Hilal Stadium
	South Sudan (p)	2 (4)
					South Sudan	1
	8 November – Kober Stadium
					Uganda	2
	Sudan	0
	Uganda	2
					Third place
					11 November – Al-Hilal Stadium
					Ethiopia	1
					Sudan	2

Semi-finals

Winners qualified for 2023 Africa U-20 Cup of Nations.

Third place

Final

The COSAFA qualifiers for the Africa U-20 Cup of Nations were hosted by Eswatini between 7–16 October 2022.^[5]

All times are local, SAST (UTC+2).

The twelve teams were drawn into three groups of four teams.^[17] The winners from each group and the best runners-up advanced to the semi-finals.

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Zambia	3	3	0	0	6	0	+6	9	Semi-finals
2	Eswatini (H)	3	2	0	1	9	3	+6	6
3	Botswana	3	1	0	2	2	3	−1	3
4	Mauritius	3	0	0	3	0	11	−11	0

---

---

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Mozambique	3	3	0	0	8	2	+6	9	Semi-finals
2	Angola	3	2	0	1	13	2	+11	6
3	Lesotho	3	1	0	2	2	7	−5	3
4	Seychelles	3	0	0	3	2	14	−12	0

---

---

Group C

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	South Africa	3	2	0	1	9	4	+5	6[a]	Semi-finals
2	Malawi	3	2	0	1	7	4	+3	6[a]
3	Comoros	3	2	0	1	3	4	−1	6[a]
4	Namibia	3	0	0	3	4	11	−7	0

---

---

Ranking of second-placed teams

Pos	Grp	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	B	Angola	3	2	0	1	13	2	+11	6	Semi-finals
2	A	Eswatini	3	2	0	1	9	3	+6	6
3	C	Malawi	3	2	0	1	7	4	+3	6

Winners qualified for 2023 Africa U-20 Cup of Nations.

	Semi-finals				Final
	14 October – Somhlolo Stadium
	Mozambique	2
					16 October – Somhlolo Stadium
	South Africa	1
					Mozambique	0
	14 October – Somhlolo Stadium
					Zambia	1
	Zambia (p)	1 (3)
	Angola	1 (2)
					Third place
					16 October – Somhlolo Stadium
					South Africa (p)	1 (4)
					Angola	1 (2)

Semi-finals

Third place

Final

The following 12 teams qualify for the final tournament.^[18]

Team	Zone	Qualified on	Previous appearances in Africa U-20 Cup of Nations1 only final tournament era (since 1991)
Egypt (hosts)	North Zone	16 May 2021[1]	11 (1991, 1993, 1997, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2017)
Benin	West B Zone	17 May 2022	2 (2005, 2013)
Nigeria	West B Zone	17 May 2022	11 (1993, 1995, 1999, 2001, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2019)
Gambia	West A Zone	9 September 2022	3 (2007, 2011, 2021)
Senegal	West A Zone	9 September 2022	5 (1993, 1995, 2015, 2017, 2019)
Mozambique	South Zone	14 October 2022	1 (2021)
Zambia	South Zone	14 October 2022	7 (1993, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2007, 2015, 2017)
Tunisia	North Zone	24 October 2022	1 (2021)
Uganda	Central-East Zone	8 November 2022	1 (2021)
South Sudan	Central-East Zone	8 November 2022	0 (debut)
Central African Republic	Central Zone	14 December 2022	1 (2021)
Congo	Central Zone	14 December 2022	2 (2007, 2015)

¹ Bold indicates champions for that year. Italic indicates hosts for that year.

There were 212 goals scored in 79 matches, for an average of 2.68 goals per match.

5 goals

4 goals

3 goals

2 goals

1 goal

1 own goal

• 2023 Africa U-17 Cup of Nations qualification