2017 Africa U-20 Cup of Nations


The 2017 Africa U-20 Cup of Nations, officially known as the Total U-20 Africa Cup Of Nations, Zambia 2017, was the 14th edition of the Africa U-20 Cup of Nations, the biennial international youth football tournament organized by the Confederation of African Football for players aged 20 and below. The tournament was set to take place in Zambia between 26 February – 12 March 2017.
The top four teams qualified for the 2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup in South Korea.

Qualification

The qualifiers were played between [|1] April and 24 July 2016. At the end of the qualification phase, seven teams joined the hosts Zambia.

Player eligibility

Players born 1 January 1997 or later are eligible to participate in the competition.

Qualified teams

The following eight teams qualified for the final tournament. Defending champions Nigeria failed to qualify. Congo and Ghana also failed to qualify, thus the winners of five of the last six tournaments failed to qualify for this tournament.
Note: All appearance statistics count only those since the introduction of final tournament in 1991.
TeamAppearancePrevious best appearance

Venues


Lusaka
Ndola
National Heroes Stadium
Levy Mwanawasa Stadium
Capacity: 60,000
Capacity: 50,000


Match officials

A total of 12 referees and 14 assistant referees were selected for the tournament.
;Referees
;Assistant referees
The draw for the tournament took place on 24 October 2016, 11:00 local time at the CAF Headquarters in Cairo.
The teams were seeded based on the results of the last edition.
Level 1Level 2Level 3Level 4

  • Squads

    Each squad can contain a maximum of 21 players.

    Group stage

    The group winners and runners-up advance to the semi-finals and qualify for the 2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup.
    ;Tiebreakers
    The teams are ranked according to points. If tied on points, tiebreakers are applied in the following order:
    1. Number of points obtained in games between the teams concerned;
    2. Goal difference in games between the teams concerned;
    3. Goals scored in games between the teams concerned;
    4. If, after applying criteria 1 to 3 to several teams, two teams still have an equal ranking, criteria 1 to 3 are reapplied exclusively to the matches between the two teams in question to determine their final rankings. If this procedure does not lead to a decision, criteria 5 to 7 apply;
    5. Goal difference in all games;
    6. Goals scored in all games;
    7. Drawing of lots.
    All times are local, CAT.

    Group A

    ----
    ----

    Group B

    ----
    ----

    Knockout stage

    In the knockout stage, if a match is level at the end of normal playing time, extra time will be played and followed, if necessary, by kicks from the penalty mark to determine the winner, except for the third place match where no extra time will be played.

    Bracket

    Semi-finals

    ----

    Third place match

    Final

    Awards

    Winners

    Individual awards

    The following awards were given at the conclusion of the tournament.
    ;Total Man of the Competition
    ;Top scorer
    ;Fair Play Award

    CAF Best XI

    ;4 goals
    ;3 goals
    ;2 goals
    ;1 goal
    ;Own goal
    The following four teams from CAF qualified for the 2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup.
    TeamQualified onPrevious appearances in tournament1