2025 U-17 Africa Cup of Nations qualification

2025 U-17 Africa Cup of Nations qualification

Tournament details
Host countries	Morocco (North Zone) Senegal (West A Zone) Ghana (West B Zone) Cameroon (Central Zone) Uganda (Central-East Zone) South Africa (South Zone)
Dates	15 May 2024 – 22 February 2025
Teams	41
Tournament statistics
Matches played	73
Goals scored	235 (3.22 per match)
← 2023 2026 →

The 2025 U-17 Africa Cup of Nations qualification was a men's under-17 football competition that decided the participating teams of the 2025 U-17 Africa Cup of Nations.

Players born on 1 January 2008 or later were eligible to participate in the competition. The host country for the final stage of the edition is Morocco, appointed during the annual CAF Executive Committee meeting along the 2024 CAF Awards ceremony in Marrakesh, Morocco where CAF appointed the country as host.^[1]

For this competition, it was expanded to 16 teams, so third place teams from some regions also qualified. In February 2025, the teams advancing were announced.^[2]

Zone	Spots	Teams entering qualification	Did not enter
North Zone (UNAF)	3 spots	Algeria  Egypt  Libya  Morocco  Tunisia
West A Zone (WAFU-UFOA A)	3 spots	Gambia  Guinea (W)  Guinea-Bissau  Liberia  Mali  Mauritania  Senegal  Sierra Leone	Cape Verde
West B Zone (WAFU-UFOA B)	2 spots	Benin  Burkina Faso  Ghana  Ivory Coast  Niger  Nigeria  Togo
Central Zone (UNIFFAC)	2 spots	Cameroon  Central African Republic  Congo (W)  DR Congo  Gabon	Chad  Equatorial Guinea  São Tomé and Príncipe
Central-East Zone (CECAFA)	3 spots	Burundi (W)  Ethiopia (W)  Kenya  Somalia  South Sudan  Sudan  Tanzania  Uganda	Djibouti  Eritrea  Rwanda
South Zone (COSAFA)	3 spots	Angola  Botswana  Comoros  Eswatini  Lesotho  Malawi  Mauritius  Mozambique  Namibia  South Africa  Zambia  Zimbabwe	Madagascar  Seychelles

Notes

• Teams in bold qualified for the final tournament.
• (W): Withdrew after draw

The UNAF qualifiers took place in Casablanca, Morocco, from 11 to 23 November 2024. The qualifying tournament draw was held on 1 October 2024. The five UNAF members competed in a single round-robin format with the top three teams qualifying for the final tournament.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Egypt	4	3	0	1	13	9	+4	9	2025 U-17 Africa Cup of Nations
2	Morocco (H)	4	2	2	0	10	4	+6	8
3	Tunisia	4	2	1	1	7	6	+1	7
4	Algeria	4	1	1	2	5	6	−1	4
5	Libya	4	0	0	4	4	14	−10	0

The WAFU-UFOA Zone A qualifiers for the U-17 Africa Cup of Nations were hosted by Senegal with the matches played starting 22 October 2024. The matches were played at Dakar, Senegal.

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

The eight teams were drawn into two groups of four teams. The winners and the runners-up of each group advanced to the semi-finals. Guinea withdrew after the draw.

Teams were ranked according to the three points for a win system (3 points for a win, 1 for a draw, 0 points for a loss), and if two teams were tied on points, the following tiebreaking criteria were applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings (Regulations Article 13):^[3]

1. Points in head-to-head matches match between the two tied teams;
2. Goal difference in all group matches;
3. Goals scored in all group matches;
4. Drawing of lots.

If more than two teams were tied, the following criteria were applied instead:

1. Points in matches between the tied teams;
2. Goal difference in matches between the tied teams;
3. Goals scored in matches between the tied teams;
4. If after applying all criteria above, two teams were still tied, the above criteria were again applied to matches played between the two teams in question. If this did not resolve the tie, the next three criteria were applied;
5. Goal difference in all group matches;
6. Goals scored in all group matches;
7. Drawing of lots.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Senegal (H)	2	2	0	0	5	2	+3	6	Semi-finals
2	Gambia	2	1	0	1	5	3	+2	3
3	Liberia	2	0	0	2	1	6	−5	0
4	Guinea	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Withdrew

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Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Mali	3	3	0	0	6	0	+6	9	Semi-finals
2	Guinea-Bissau	3	1	1	1	1	1	0	4
3	Sierra Leone	3	1	0	2	1	2	−1	3
4	Mauritania	3	0	1	2	0	5	−5	1

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	Semi-finals				Final
	1 November – Thiès
	Senegal (p)	0 (4)
					4 November – Thiès
	Guinea-Bissau	0 (3)
					Senegal (p)	3 (5)
	1 November – Thiès
					Mali	3 (4)
	Mali	3
	Gambia	2
					Third place play-off
					4 November – Thiès
					Guinea-Bissau	0 (5)
					Gambia (p)	0 (6)

Winners qualified for 2025 U-17 Africa Cup of Nations.

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The WAFU-UFOA Zone B qualifiers for the U-17 Africa Cup of Nations were hosted by Ghana with the matches played between 15 and 28 May 2024, the draw was announced on 23 April 2024.^[4]

All times are local, GMT (UTC±0).

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.

Teams were ranked according to the three points for a win system (3 points for a win, 1 for a draw, 0 points for a loss), and if two teams were tied on points, the following tiebreaking criteria were applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings (Regulations Article 13):^[3]

1. Points in head-to-head matches match between the two tied teams;
2. Goal difference in all group matches;
3. Goals scored in all group matches;
4. Drawing of lots.

If more than two teams were tied, the following criteria were applied instead:

1. Points in matches between the tied teams;
2. Goal difference in matches between the tied teams;
3. Goals scored in matches between the tied teams;
4. If after applying all criteria above, two teams were still tied, the above criteria were again applied to matches played between the two teams in question. If this did not resolve the tie, the next three criteria were applied;
5. Goal difference in all group matches;
6. Goals scored in all group matches;
7. Drawing of lots.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Ghana (H)	2	2	0	0	7	1	+6	6	Semi-finals
2	Ivory Coast	2	1	0	1	2	5	−3	3
3	Benin	2	0	0	2	0	3	−3	0

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Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Nigeria	3	2	1	0	4	0	+4	7	Semi-finals
2	Burkina Faso	3	2	1	0	3	0	+3	7
3	Niger	3	1	0	2	3	4	−1	3
4	Togo	3	0	0	3	2	8	−6	0

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	Semi-finals				Final
	25 May – Accra
	Ghana	1
					28 May – Accra
	Burkina Faso	2
					Burkina Faso	3
	25 May – Accra
					Ivory Coast	1
	Nigeria	0
	Ivory Coast	1
					Third place play-off
					28 May – Accra
					Ghana	2
					Nigeria	3

Winners qualified for 2025 U-17 Africa Cup of Nations.

The UNIFFAC qualifiers for the U-17 Africa Cup of Nations were held in Cameroon between 16–22 February 2025.^[5] The qualifying tournament draw was held on 6 February 2025. Four UNIFFAC members competed in a single round-robin format with the top two teams qualifying for the final tournament.

Congo was also placed into this group, but they were suspended on 6 February 2025 due to government interference in FECOFOOT operations.^[6][7] No announcement of their qualification status was immediately available, but on 16 February 2025, CAF released a reschedule of the qualifiers excluding Congo.^[8]

Teams were ranked according to the three points for a win system (3 points for a win, 1 for a draw, 0 points for a loss), and if two teams were tied on points, the following tiebreaking criteria were applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings (Regulations Article 13):^[3]

1. Points in head-to-head matches match between the two tied teams;
2. Goal difference in all group matches;
3. Goals scored in all group matches;
4. Drawing of lots.

If more than two teams were tied, the following criteria were applied instead:

1. Points in matches between the tied teams;
2. Goal difference in matches between the tied teams;
3. Goals scored in matches between the tied teams;
4. If after applying all criteria above, two teams were still tied, the above criteria were again applied to matches played between the two teams in question. If this did not resolve the tie, the next three criteria were applied;
5. Goal difference in all group matches;
6. Goals scored in all group matches;
7. Drawing of lots.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Cameroon (H)	3	3	0	0	22	1	+21	9	2025 U-17 Africa Cup of Nations
2	Central African Republic	3	2	0	1	4	11	−7	6
3	DR Congo	3	1	0	2	5	10	−5	3
4	Gabon	3	0	0	3	2	11	−9	0

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Teams were ranked according to the three points for a win system (3 points for a win, 1 for a draw, 0 points for a loss), and if two teams were tied on points, the following tiebreaking criteria were applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings (Regulations Article 13):^[3]

1. Points in head-to-head matches match between the two tied teams;
2. Goal difference in all group matches;
3. Goals scored in all group matches;
4. Drawing of lots.

If more than two teams were tied, the following criteria were applied instead:

1. Points in matches between the tied teams;
2. Goal difference in matches between the tied teams;
3. Goals scored in matches between the tied teams;
4. If after applying all criteria above, two teams were still tied, the above criteria were again applied to matches played between the two teams in question. If this did not resolve the tie, the next three criteria were applied;
5. Goal difference in all group matches;
6. Goals scored in all group matches;
7. Drawing of lots.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Uganda (H)	2	1	1	0	6	1	+5	4	Semi-finals
2	Tanzania	2	1	1	0	2	1	+1	4
3	Kenya	2	0	0	2	0	6	−6	0

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Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	South Sudan	2	2	0	0	4	0	+4	6	Semi-finals
2	Somalia	2	1	0	1	1	3	−2	3
3	Sudan	2	0	0	2	0	2	−2	0

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	Semi-finals				Final
	24 December – Kampala
	South Sudan	0
					27 December – Kampala
	Tanzania	4
					Tanzania	1
	24 December – Kampala
					Uganda	2
	Uganda	4
	Somalia	1
					Third place
					27 December – Kampala
					South Sudan	2 (2)
					Somalia	2 (4)

The COSAFA qualifiers for the U-17 Africa Cup of Nations were held in Johannesburg, South Africa, from 5 to 14 December 2024. The draw for the groups took place on 5 September 2024.

The qualification structure was as follows:

• Group stage: The 12 teams were divided into three groups, with the group winners and the best runner-up advancing to the knockout stage.
• Knockout stage: The four teams advancing from the second round competed in a three-match knockout round, with the winners of the semifinals qualifying for the final tournament.

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Angola	3	2	1	0	4	2	+2	7	Semi-finals
2	Mozambique	3	1	1	1	2	2	0	4
3	Lesotho	3	1	0	2	4	5	−1	3
4	Malawi	3	0	2	1	4	5	−1	2

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Zambia	3	3	0	0	14	1	+13	9	Semi-finals
2	Zimbabwe	3	1	1	1	10	10	0	4
3	Namibia	3	1	1	1	6	13	−7	4
4	Eswatini	3	0	0	3	2	8	−6	0

Group C

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	South Africa (H)	3	3	0	0	10	2	+8	9	Semi-finals
2	Botswana	3	1	1	1	3	5	−2	4
3	Comoros	3	0	2	1	1	4	−3	2
4	Mauritius	3	0	1	2	2	5	−3	1

	Semi-finals				Final
	11 December – Johannesburg
	Angola	2
					13 December – Johannesburg
	Zimbabwe	0
					Angola	1
	11 December – Johannesburg
					Zambia	2
	Zambia	2
	South Africa	1

There have been 173 goals scored in 57 matches, for an average of 3.04 goals per match (as of 20 February 2025).

7 goals

5 goals

4 goals

3 goals

2 goals

1 goal

1 own goal

• 2025 U-20 Africa Cup of Nations qualification