The 2025 U-20 Africa Cup of Nations, known as the 2025 U20 AFCON for short and as the 2025 TotalEnergies U-20 Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship purposes, was the 18th edition (25th if editions of the tournament without hosts are included) of the biennial African international youth football tournament organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF).[1][2][3]
The draw procedure was announced on 10 February 2025.[4] The 13 teams were drawn into one group of five teams and two groups of four teams.[5] Teams are seeded according to their performance in the 2023 U-20 Africa Cup of Nations. Hosts at the time of the draw Ivory Coast were automatically assigned to Position A1 in the draw, later replaced by Egypt. Previous edition winners Senegal were assigned to Position C1 and third place Nigeria were assigned to Position B1. The 3 qualified teams that also participated in the last edition, Congo[Note 1], Egypt (later replaced by Tunisia), and Zambia, were seeded in Pot 1. The rest of the field were placed in Pot 2 to be drawn into the remaining positions.[6][7]
The host country for the final stage of the edition was decided at the annual 2024 CAF Executive Committee meeting and CAF Awards in Marrakesh, Morocco on 16 December 2024, with CAF appointing Ivory Coast as hosts.[8]
On 26 March 2025, it was announced that Ivory Coast had withdrawn as hosts, also forfeiting their automatic qualification spot. The new host country was not immediately announced.[9][10]
On 27 March 2025, it was announced that Egypt would replace Ivory Coast as hosts. Egypt had previously submitted a bid to host during the initial bidding process. The opening match would also be pushed back one day to 27 April.[11]
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 tied on points, the following tiebreaking criteria are applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings:
Goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
If more than two teams were tied, and after applying all head-to-head criteria above, if two teams are still tied, all head-to-head criteria above are applied exclusively to these two teams;
For teams eliminated in the same knockout round, the following criteria were applied, in the order given, to determine the final rankings:
Goal difference in round eliminated;
Goals scored in round eliminated;
If teams eliminated in the semi-finals are tied, the above criteria are reapplied for the previous knockout round, with this process repeated once more should two semi-finalists remain tied;
Points in group stage;
Goal difference in group stage;
Goals scored in group stage;
Disciplinary points.
For teams eliminated in the group stage, the following criteria were applied, in the order given, to determine the final rankings
^ abcCongo were suspended on 6 February 2025 due to government interference in FECOFOOT operations, and Congo were not included in the draw. After the draw, Central African Republic were named as replacements on 22 March 2025.
South Africa (1st title)
Morocco
Nigeria
Egypt
Momoh Kamara (4 goals)
Tunisia
Senegal
Ghana
DR Congo
Central African Republic
Kenya
Tanzania
Zambia
62'
