Nigeria leads Group B as CAF holds final draw for U-20 AFCON in Cairo

By Harry Awurumibe, Editor-in-Chief, Abuja

The Final Draw for the TotalEnergies CAF U-20 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), Cote d’Ivoire 2025, will take place tomorrow,Thursday, February 13, 2025 at CAF headquarters in Cairo, Egypt, Prompt News reports

According to the CAF Competitions Department, the Final Draw will be broadcast live on CAF TV, just as former Mali international ⁠Adama Coulibaly and ex-Senegal star Souleymane Camara will act as draw assistants.

The tournament will see 13 teams compete from April 26 to May 18, 2025, with the top four nations to qualify for the 2025 FIFA Under-20 World Cup that will be staged in Chile from September 27 to October 19, 2025.

Teams that have qualified for the TotalEnergies CAF Under-20 Africa Cup of Nations, Cote d’Ivoire 2025 are:

Cote d’Ivoire (hosts)
DR Congo
Egypt
Ghana
Kenya
Morocco
Nigeria
Senegal
Sierra Leone
South Africa
Tanzania
Zambia
Note: A representative of UNIFFAC 2 is yet to be determined.

However, CAF said that the format of the tournament remains the same as the teams will be divided into three Groups (A, B and C), with Group A containing five teams and Groups B and C four sides each. Cote d’Ivoire, as the host country, is automatically preassigned to position A1 in Group A.

The remainder of the seeds for each group have been determined via the final placings in the TotalEnergies CAF Under-20 AFCON, Egypt 2023.

Holders Senegal take up position C1 and Nigeria, who finished third two years ago, take up position B1.

The identity of the second team from the UNIFFAC Zonal Union is still to be determined following Congo’s FIFA suspension, but the team representing UNIFFAC will be in Pot 1 (Level 2) along with Egypt and Zambia. The teams in Pot 1 will be drawn into positions A2, B2 and C2.

The top two teams in each group qualify for the quarter-finals along with the two best third-placed sides before the competition continues in a knockout format.

In line with the tournament procedure, the draw will be made using five separate pots:

Pot 1: Egypt, UNIFFAC 2, Zambia (Level 2 teams)
Pot 2: Ghana, DR Congo, Kenya, Morocco, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tanzania
Pot 3: Positions A2, B2 & C2
Pot 4: Positions A3, B3 & C3
Pot 5: Positions A4, B4 & C4
Level 2 teams will be drawn to occupy positions A2, B2, and C2. The remaining teams will be drawn to occupy positions A3, B3, C3, A4, B4, and C4. The last remaining team will automatically be placed in A5.