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2021 Africa U-17 Cup of Nations qualification

Tournament details
Host countries	Algeria (North Zone) Senegal (West A Zone) Togo (West B Zone) Rwanda (Central-East Zone) South Africa (South Zone)
Dates	22 November 2020 – 13 February 2021
Teams	33 (from 1 confederation)
Tournament statistics
Matches played	42
Goals scored	141 (3.36 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Ibou Sané Oscar Mawa (6 goals each)
← 2019 2023 →

The 2021 Africa U-17 Cup of Nations qualification was a men's under-17 football competition which decided the teams that would have participated in the 2021 Africa U-17 Cup of Nations.

Players born 1 January 2004 or later were eligible to participate in the competition. A total of twelve teams qualified and would have played in the final tournament, including Morocco who qualified automatically as hosts.

Teams

This will be the first edition in Africa U-17 Cup of Nations to have expanded to 12 teams instead of eight. Each of the six zones received two spots in the final tournament.

Notes

• Teams in bold qualified for the final tournament.
• (H): Qualifying tournament hosts
• (Q): Automatically qualified for final tournament regardless of qualification results
• (D): Disqualified

Schedule

The qualifying competition is split into regional competitions, with the teams entering the qualifying tournament of their zone. The final arrangements of the zonal qualifiers were decided later due to the delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The schedule of each qualifying zone is as follows.

North Zone

The UNAF U-17 Tournament, which also served as the qualifiers for the Africa U-17 Cup of Nations was initially planned to be hosted by Algeria between 15–24 July 2020. However, it could not be held in the scheduled time span because of the COVID-19 pandemic and was later scheduled and held between 18–24 January 2021. The matches were played at Algiers (Stade du 5 Juillet).

The draw for the fixtures was held on 30 December 2020. The three teams were placed in one group, with the winners qualifying for the final tournament. Morocco didn't participate in the qualifiers as they had already qualified as the hosts of the final tournament.

All times are local, CET (UTC+1).

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Algeria (H)	2	1	1	0	4	3	+1	4	2021 Africa U-17 Cup of Nations
2	Tunisia	2	1	1	0	3	2	+1	4
3	Libya	2	0	0	2	3	5	−2	0

Algeria	3–2	Libya
Ouchouache 39' Omar 49' Nottebaere 86'	Report	Abdulnabi 29' Nottebaere 59' (o.g.)

Libya	1–2	Tunisia
Boushibah 78'	Report	Mahdouani 54' Trabelsi 90+5'

Tunisia	1–1	Algeria
Senana 90'	Report	Zuliani 70'

West A Zone

The 2021 WAFU Zone A Tournament which serves as the qualifiers for the Africa U-17 Cup of Nations was initially planned to be hosted from 11–20 December 2020 in Sierra Leone, but was postponed. The tournament was later shifted and held in Senegal between 5–13 February 2021.

Group stage

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Senegal (H)	1	1	0	0	4	0	+4	3	Semi-finals
2	Mauritania	1	0	0	1	0	4	−4	0
3	Gambia (D)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Disqualified

1. Gambia were disqualified from the qualifiers after some players failed to pass the MRI test. They were considered to have withdrawn from the competition, and all previous matches played by them shall be considered "null and void" and would not be considered in determining the final group rankings.

Senegal	Voided (4–2)	Gambia
Gning 7' Sané 26', 35', 57'	Report	Bajo 39' Baldeh 67' (pen.)

Gambia	Voided (2–0)	Mauritania
Jatta 22' Marong 89'	Report

Mauritania	0–4	Senegal
	Report	Sané 8' Diop 45+1' Niang 58' Gning 78'

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Mali	1	1	0	0	5	0	+5	3	Semi-finals
2	Guinea-Bissau	1	0	0	1	0	5	−5	0
3	Sierra Leone (D)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Disqualified

1. Sierra Leone were disqualified from the qualifiers after some players failed to pass the MRI test. They were considered to have withdrawn from the competition, and all previous matches played by them shall be considered "null and void" and would not be considered in determining the final group rankings.

Sierra Leone	Voided (0–1)	Guinea-Bissau
	Report	Pessi 30' (pen.)

Mali	Voided (5–0)	Sierra Leone
Koïta 7' Doumbia 16' Diallo 50', 85' Maïga 63'	Report

Guinea-Bissau	0–5	Mali
	Report	Diallo 26', 51' Foungognon 72' Danioko 78' Kané 85'

Knockout stage

In the knockout stages, if a match is level at the end of normal playing time, a penalty shoot-out without extra time was used to determine the winners.

	Semi-finals				Final
	11 February– Stade Lat-Dior
	Senegal	4
					13 February – Stade Lat-Dior
	Guinea-Bissau	0
					Senegal	2
	11 February –Stade Lat-Dior
					Mali	0
	Mali	5
	Mauritania	1

Semifinals

Mali	5–1	Mauritania
Diallo 23' Traoré 51' Foungognon 54' (pen.), 55' Kané 79'	Report	Ngom 37' (pen.)

Senegal	4–0	Guinea-Bissau
Traoré 29' Niang 41' Sané 48' Faye 52'	Report

Final

Senegal	2–0	Mali
Gning 30' Sané 81' (pen.)	Report

West B Zone

The 2021 WAFU Zone B Tournament which serves as a qualifier tournament for the Africa U-17 Cup of Nations was initially planned to be hosted by Benin from 15–30 June 2020, but was later shifted and held in Togo between 5–18 January 2021. The matches were played at Lomé (Stade de Kégué and Stade Municipal).

All times are local, GMT (UTC±0).

Group stage

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.

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Burkina Faso	2	1	1	0	5	1	+4	4	Semi-finals
2	Niger	2	1	1	0	3	0	+3	4
3	Benin	2	0	0	2	1	8	−7	0
4	Togo (H, D)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Disqualified

1. Togo were disqualified from the qualifiers after two of their players failed to pass the MRI test. They were considered to have withdrawn from the competition, and all previous matches played by them shall be considered "null and void" and would not be considered in determining the final group rankings.

Togo	Voided (2–1)	Niger
Kolani 57' Kpérédja 90+2'	Report	Ousmane 30'

Benin	1–5	Burkina Faso
Ouorou 51'	Report	Ouattara 13', 48' Diakité 20', 63' Yaméogo 90+1'

Benin	Voided (1–3)	Togo
Ouorou 54'	Report	Sedzro 38' Dotsè 65' Adohoun 90+2'

Niger	0–0	Burkina Faso
	Report

Burkina Faso	Cancelled	Togo

Niger	3–0	Benin
Ousmane 8' Daouda 15', 34'	Report

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Ivory Coast	2	2	0	0	4	1	+3	6	Semi-finals
2	Nigeria	2	0	1	1	1	2	−1	1
3	Ghana	2	0	1	1	2	4	−2	1

Nigeria	0–1	Ivory Coast
	Report	Konaté 75'

Ghana	1–1	Nigeria
Issahaku 87' (pen.)	Report	Arumala 82' (pen.)

Ivory Coast	3–1	Ghana
Konaté 10' Likpa 48' Don 68' (pen.)	Report	Batigi 51'

Knockout stage

In the knockout stages, if a match is level at the end of normal playing time, a penalty shoot-out without extra time was used to determine the winners.

	Semi-finals				Final
	15 January – Stade de Kégué
	Burkina Faso	0
					18 January – Stade de Kégué
	Nigeria	1
					Nigeria	2
	15 January – Stade de Kégué
					Ivory Coast	3
	Ivory Coast	1
	Niger	0
					Third place
					18 January – Stade de Kégué
					Burkina Faso	1(10)
					Niger	1 (9)

Semifinals

Burkina Faso	0–1	Nigeria
	Report	Emmanuel 77'

Ivory Coast	1–0	Niger
Traoré 47'	Report

Third Place match

Burkina Faso	1–1	Niger
Tinta 89'	Report	Hassane 10'
Penalties
Tietietta Tinta Sanou Djanbou Ouattara Camara Kabré Nacro Ghanou Kiendrebeogo Ido	10–9	N'Baye Ridouane Hamidou Hassane Mohamadou Wahabo Goumar Ousmane Adamou Abdoul Latif Hainikoye

Final

Nigeria	2–3	Ivory Coast
Abdullahi 90', 90+1'	Report	Koné 15' Konaté 59' Traoré 83'

Central Zone

The 2021 UNIFFAC U17 Tournament which would have served as a qualifier tournament for the Africa U-17 Cup of Nations was initially planned to be held in Cameroon on 2020, and then in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea in February 2021.

In February 2021, this tournament was finally cancelled by CAF due to the absence of a host country and the absence of an MRI machine in most of the countries of this zone. For the 2021 Africa U-17 Cup of Nations, CAF decided to qualify Cameroon and Congo, the two finalists of the last edition of the zonal qualifiers of UNIFFAC in 2018.

Central-East Zone

The CECAFA qualifiers for the Africa U-17 Cup of Nations were initially planned to be hosted at the beginning of July 2020 but were then later shifted to 13–22 December 2020. Nine teams were drawn into three groups of three teams during the draw made in October. However, two teams, namely Eritrea and Sudan withdrew before the start of the tournament and the seven remaining teams were then redrawn into new groups. The matches were played at Gisenyi (Umuganda Stadium).

All times are local, CAT (UTC+2).

Group stage

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.

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Uganda	2	2	0	0	8	0	+8	6	Semi-finals
2	Ethiopia	2	0	1	1	2	5	−3	1
3	Kenya	2	0	1	1	2	7	−5	1
4	South Sudan (D)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Disqualified

1. South Sudan were disqualified from the qualifiers after four of their players failed to pass the MRI test.

Kenya	2–2	Ethiopia
Gachago 14' Rajab 84'	Report	Jiru 61' Nagash 90+4' (pen.)

Uganda	5–0	Kenya
Mawa 8', 50', 54' Mutyaba 77' Madoi 84'	Report

Uganda	3–0	Ethiopia
Mawa 17', 62' Irinimbabazi 35'	Report

Group B

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

Rwanda	1–3	Tanzania
Irihamye 19' (pen.)	Report	Yahaya 10' Mvungi 14', 61'

Rwanda	0–0	Djibouti
	Report

Djibouti	1–1	Tanzania
M. Ali 80'	Report	Mouhoumed 33' (o.g.)

Knockout stage

In the knockout stages, if a match is level at the end of normal playing time, a penalty shoot-out without extra time was used to determine the winners.

	Semi-finals				Final
	20 December – Umuganda Stadium
	Uganda	1
					22 December – Umuganda Stadium
	Djibouti	0
					Uganda	3
	20 December – Umuganda Stadium
					Tanzania	1
	Tanzania	1 (4)
	Ethiopia	1 (3)
					Third place
					22 December – Umuganda Stadium
					Djibouti	2
					Ethiopia	5

Semifinals

Uganda	1–0	Djibouti
Mawa 89'	Report

Tanzania	1–1	Ethiopia
Bakari 38'	Report	Ganta 72'
Penalties
Mbarak Lubotile Chasambi Bakari Lidah	4–3	Nagash Jiru Shamil Bakalo Seid

Third Place match

Djibouti	2–5	Ethiopia
Hadi 56', 77'	Report	Bakalo 18', 35' Jiru 36' Rameto 58', 72'

Final

Uganda	3–1	Tanzania
Irinimbabazi 63' Mutyaba 80' Juma 90' (pen.)	Report	Mulema 88' (o.g.)

South Zone

The COSAFA U-17 Championship was initially planned to be hosted by Malawi between 22 July–1 August 2020 with the matches planned to be played at Blantyre, as the region's qualifying tournament. Malawi, however, were not able to host the tournament due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The hosting rights were later awarded to South Africa with the matches being played at Nelson Mandela Bay (Gelvandale Stadium and Westbourne Oval Stadium).

All times are local, SAST (UTC+2).

Group stage

Eight teams were drawn into two groups during the draw. South Africa, Angola, Zimbabwe, and Eswatini were drawn into Group A and Zambia, Botswana, Malawi and Comoros were drawn into Group B. However, on 20 November after the first set of matches were already played on 19 November, 4 teams namely – Botswana, Comoros, Eswatini and Zimbabwe were disqualified from the tournament for having at least one of their players fail the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) test. The tournament was later restarted on 22 November 2020 as a four-team tournament and was played on a round-robin basis. The matches which had been played were then later regarded as warm-up games with no bearing to the new tournament format.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Zambia	3	3	0	0	9	3	+6	9	2021 Africa U-17 Cup of Nations
2	South Africa (H)	3	1	1	1	4	4	0	4
3	Angola	3	1	0	2	9	5	+4	3
4	Malawi	3	0	1	2	5	15	−10	1

Angola	1–2	Zambia
Lopes 90+3'	Report	Majapa 51' Ng’ambi 64' (pen.)

South Africa	2–2	Malawi
Shabalala 46' Mahlangu 87'	Report	Zakeyu 36' Banda 65'

South Africa	2–1	Angola
Shabalala 45+2' Francis 61'	Report	Kossi 56'

Zambia	6–2	Malawi
Banda 11', 44', 49' Ng’ambi 16' Majapa 47' Khumalo 84'	Report	Mphasi 58', 72'

Malawi	1–7	Angola
Zakeyu 80'	Report	Domingos 30' Hequele 40', 42', 67' (pen.) Canji 82' Cucao 90+1' Inga 90+4'

Zambia	1–0	South Africa
Banda 84'	Report

Third place match

Angola	2–1	Malawi
Kossi 9' Hequele 41'	Report	Lameck 1'

Final

Zambia	1–1	South Africa
Banda 2' (pen.)	Report	Mahlangu 14' (pen.)
Penalties
Chaiwa Banda Majapa Ng’ambi	2–4	Sishi Mgiba Phalane Dopolo Dithejane

Qualified teams

The following 12 teams qualify for the final tournament.

Team	Zone	Qualified on	Previous appearances in Africa U-17 Cup of Nations only final tournament era (since 1995)
Morocco (hosts)	North Zone	28 September 2018	2 (2013, 2019)
Algeria	North Zone	24 January 2021	1 (2009)
Senegal	West A Zone	11 February 2021	2 (2011, 2019)
Mali	West A Zone	11 February 2021	8 (1995, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2005, 2011, 2015, 2017)
Nigeria	West B Zone	15 January 2021	9 (1995, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2013, 2015, 2019)
Ivory Coast	West B Zone	15 January 2021	5 (1997, 2005, 2011, 2013, 2015)
Cameroon	Central Zone	20 February 2021	7 (1999, 2001, 2003, 2009, 2015, 2017, 2019)
Congo	Central Zone	20 February 2021	2 (2011, 2013)
Uganda	Central-East Zone	20 December 2020	1 (2019)
Tanzania	Central-East Zone	20 December 2020	2 (2017, 2019)
Zambia	South Zone	24 November 2020	1 (2015)
South Africa	South Zone	26 November 2020	3 (2005, 2007, 2015)

Bold indicates champions for that year. Italic indicates hosts for that year.

Goalscorers

There were 141 goals scored in 42 matches, for an average of 3.36 goals per match.

6 goals

• Ibou Sané
• Oscar Mawa

5 goals

• Bandjoukou Diallo
• Joseph Banda

4 goals

• Custódio Hequele

3 goals

• Abdramane Konaté
• Sekongo Foungognon
• Mamadou Gning

2 goals

• Jeremias Kossi
• Yamirou Ouorou
• Abdoul Ouattara
• Gaoussou Diakité
• Ayoub Hadi
• Yodahe Bakalo
• Bereket Jiru
• Bereket Rameto
• Seydou Traoré
• Chifundo Mphasi
• Samson Zakeyu
• Boua Kané
• Souleymane Daouda
• Abdoulaye Ousmane
• Ahmed Abdullahi
• Modou Niang
• Thabang Mahlangu
• Mduduzi Shabalala
• Omar Mvungi
• Ivan Irinimbabazi
• Travis Mutyaba
• Charles Majapa
• Rickson Ng’ambi

1 goal

• Djibril Nottebaere
• Mohamed Rafik Omar
• Anis Ouchouache
• Edhy Zuliani
• Armindo Canji
• Alexandre Cucao
• Vicente Domingos
• Osvaldo Inga
• António Lopes
• Zakaria Tinta
• Bachirou Yaméogo
• Moktar Djama Ali
• Mikiyas Ganta
• Miraj Nagash
• Mahmudu Bajo
• Abdoulie Baldeh
• Bakary Jatta
• Modou Marong
• John Batigi
• Abdul Fatawu Issahaku
• Patrick Pessi
• Cédric Don
• Sindou Koné
• Charles Likpa
• James Gachago
• Umar Rajab
• Abdulsamia Abdulnabi
• Abdulmuyassir Boushibah
• Stevie Banda
• Andrew Lameck
• Tidiane Danioko
• Mamadou Doumbia
• Yacouba Koïta
• Yacouba Maïga
• Abdoul Traoré
• Oumar Ngom
• Harouna Hassane
• Joseph Arumala
• Michael Emmanuel
• Eric Irihamye
• Ousmane Diop
• Mame Faye
• Famady Traoré
• Keaviano Francis
• Omari Bakari
• Kassimu Yahaya
• Mawussi Adohoun
• Kokou Dotsè
• Baboulin Kolani
• Ouzeroudine Kpérédja
• Robert Sedzro
• Firas Mahdouani
• Youssef Senana
• Mohamed Nasser Trabelsi
• Ibrahim Juma
• Ronald Madoi
• Teddy Khumalo

1 own goal

• Djibril Nottebaere (against Libya)
• Abdek Mouhoumed (against Tanzania)
• Vincent Mulema (against Tanzania)

Notes

1. ^ Gambia & Sierra Leone were disqualified from the qualifiers after some of their players failed to pass the MRI test.
2. Togo were disqualified from the qualifiers after two of their players failed to pass the MRI test.
3. South Sudan were disqualified from the qualifiers after four of their players failed to pass the MRI test.
4. ^ Botswana, Comoros, Eswatini and Zimbabwe initially entered in the qualifiers, but were later disqualified after at least 1 of their players failed the MRI test. The tournament was then later restarted with the remaining 4 teams and the games previously played were regarded as warm-ups.

References

1. ^ "Decisions of CAF Executive Commitee [sic] - 27 & 28 September 2018". CAF. 29 September 2018.
2. "CAF Holds Executive Committee Meeting ahead of CAN Total U-23 Final". CAFOnline.com. CAF-Confedération Africaine du Football. Retrieved 21 November 2019.
3. ^ "Tournoi UFOA U17 : La Sierra Leone et la Gambie disqualifiées". 13football. 9 February 2021. Retrieved 9 February 2021.
4. ^ "WAFU-B U-17 tournament: Togo disqualified". CAF. 11 January 2021. Retrieved 11 January 2021.
5. ^ Sang, Kiplagat (13 December 2020). "Banned South Sudan did not know players were over age". Goal.com. Retrieved 24 December 2020.
6. ^ "Four teams disqualified from COSAFA zonal qualifier". 20 November 2020.
7. "CAF Newsletter" (PDF). CAF. 5 April 2020. p. 3.
8. "Decisions of CAF Executive Meeting – 30 June 2020". CAF. 30 June 2020.
9. "CAN-2021 (U17) : L'Algérie organisera le tournoi qualificatif l'été prochain" (in French). footalgerien.com. 24 November 2019.
10. "UNAF U17 : le tirage au sort effectué" (in French). CAF. 31 December 2020. Retrieved 19 January 2021.
11. "WAFU 'A' U-17 qualifiers postponed". cafonline.com. 14 December 2020.
12. "WAFU 'A' U-17 qualifiers". fr.cafonline.com (in French). 3 February 2021.
13. Eludini, Tunde (3 January 2021). "Golden Eaglets depart Lagos for Togo". Premium Times. Retrieved 9 January 2021.
14. Lantheaume, Romain (5 January 2021). "Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria… Coup d'envoi des qualifications en Zone UFOA B". Afrik-Foot. Retrieved 9 January 2021.
15. "Cameroon and Congo qualify without playing". 20 February 2021. Archived from the original on 2 March 2021. Retrieved 19 February 2021.
16. "CECAFA U-20 and U-17 AFCON qualifiers draw done". CAF. 29 October 2020. Retrieved 31 December 2020.
17. Furaha, Jacques (8 December 2020). "Seven Teams To Compete After Burundi, Sudan And Eritrea Withdrawals". KT Press. Retrieved 31 December 2020.
18. Sikubwabo, Damas (7 December 2020). "Rwanda drawn in Group B with Tanzania, Djibouti". The New Times. Retrieved 31 December 2020.
19. "Malawi to host 2020 COSAFA U-17 championship". Malawi24. 25 January 2020.
20. Chilapondwa, Andrew (7 August 2020). "Mauritius to host COSAFA Under-17 Championship". Malawi24.
21. "Draw looms for COSAFA Men's Under-17 and Under-20 zonal qualifiers". 28 October 2020.
22. "2020 COSAFA UNDER-17 CHAMPIONSHIP FIXTURES". COSAFA.
23. "Tasty draws for COSAFA Men's Under-17 and Under-20 Championships". COSAFA. 2 November 2020.
24. "South Africa start with win, Zimbabwe and Angola draw". 19 November 2020.

• 2020 in African football
• 2020 in youth association football
• 2021 U-17 Africa Cup of Nations
• U-17 Africa Cup of Nations qualification
• November 2020 sports events in Africa
• December 2020 sports events in Africa
• January 2021 sports events in Africa
• February 2021 sports events in Africa
• Association football events postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic