2023 U-17 Africa Cup of Nations

2023 U-17 Africa Cup of Nations
كأس الأمم الإفريقية تحت 17 سنة 2023
Tournament details
Host country	Algeria
Dates	29 April – 19 May
Teams	12 (from 1 confederation)
Venue(s)	3 (in 3 host cities)
Final positions
Champions	Senegal (1st title)
Runners-up	Morocco
Third place	Burkina Faso
Fourth place	Mali
Tournament statistics
Matches played	23
Goals scored	58 (2.52 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Amara Diouf; (5 goals)
Best player(s)	Souleymane Alio
Best goalkeeper	Serigne Diouf
Fair play award	Morocco

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 international youth football tournament organized by CAF for players aged 17 and below.

In May 2021, it was decided that the tournament would be hosted by Algeria.[1][2][3] This was the first edition of the tournament with twelve teams instead of eight. The top four teams of the tournament 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, following a 2–1 loss to Burkina Faso and a 2–0 loss to Mali. Senegal won the tournament for the first time, defeating Morocco 2–1 in the final.

Qualification

The CAF decided in July 2017 that the format of the qualifying competition should be changed and split according to zones.[4] At the end of the qualification phase, eleven teams joined the hosts Algeria.

Player eligibility

Players born on 1 January 2006 or later are eligible to participate in the competition.

Qualified teams

The following twelve teams qualified for the final tournament. However, South Sudan was disqualified from the tournament after 5 players failed the MRI test.[5]

Note: All appearance statistics count only those since the introduction of the final tournament 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 the competition: Algiers, Annaba and Constantine.[6]

Algiers Annaba Constantine		Algiers	Annaba
		Nelson Mandela Stadium	19 May 1956 Stadium
		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

Squads

Draw

The draw of the final tournament was held on 1 February 2023, 12:00 WET (UTC±0), at the Cercle National de l'Armée in Algiers, Algeria,[7] The twelve teams were drawn into three groups of four teams. The hosts Algeria is seeded in Group A and allocated to position A1, while Cameroon the 2019 champions is seeded in Group C and allocated to position C1, and Nigeria the 2019 fourth place is seeded in Group B and allocated to position B1, while the remaining nine teams are seeded based on their results in the 2019 Africa U-17 Cup of Nations.[8]

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 points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss), and if tied on points, the following tiebreaking criteria were applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings (Regulations Article 13):[9]

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).[10]

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
3	Congo	3	0	2	1	2	3	−1	2
4	Somalia	3	0	1	2	1	6	−5	1

Source: CAF
Rules for classification: Group stage tiebreakers
(H) Hosts

29 April 2023