The 2025 U-17 Africa Cup of Nations known as the TotalEnergies U-17 Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship purposes or 2025 U17 AFCON for short is the 15th edition (20th if editions without hosts are included) of the biennial African youth football tournament organized by Confederation of African Football (CAF) for players aged 17 and below.
Morocco was chosen as the host of this edition on 16 December 2024 at the annual CAF Executive Committee meeting along the 2024 CAF Awards ceremony in Marrakesh, Morocco where CAF appointed the country as host.[1] which it organised from 30 March to 19 April. The top 10 teams will qualify for the 2025 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Qatar as the CAF representatives.
It is the first U-17 Africa Cup of Nations to feature 16 teams.
Senegal are the defending champions.
Qualification
Player eligibility
Players born on 1 January 2008 or later were eligible to participate in this tournament edition.
Qualified teams
The following teams have qualified for the group stage.
| Team | Zone | Date of qualification | Appearance | Last appearance | Previous best performance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Egypt |
North Zone | 23 November 2024 | 4th | 2011 | Champions (1997) |
 Morocco (hosts) |
23 November 2024 | 4th | 2023 | Runners-up (2023) | |
 Tunisia |
5 February 2025 | 4th | 2013 | Third place (2013) | |
 Mali |
West A Zone | 1 November 2024 | 10th | 2023 | Champions (2015, 2017) |
 Senegal |
1 November 2024 | 4th | 2023 | Champions (2023) | |
 Gambia |
5 February 2025 | 5th | 2023 | Champions (2005, 2009) | |
 Burkina Faso |
West B Zone | 25 May 2024 | 8th | 2023 | Champions (2011) |
 Ivory Coast |
25 May 2024 | 6th | 2015 | Champions (2013) | |
| Central Zone | February 2025 | ||||
| February 2025 | |||||
 Tanzania |
Central-East Zone | 24 December 2024 | 3rd | 2019 | Group stage (2017, 2019) |
 Uganda |
24 December 2024 | 2nd | 2019 | Group stage (2019) | |
 Somalia |
5 February 2025 | 2nd | 2023 | Group stage (2023) | |
 Angola |
South Zone | 11 December 2024 | 5th | 2019 | Third place (2019) |
 Zambia |
11 December 2024 | 3rd | 2023 | Group stage (2015, 2023) | |
 South Africa |
5 February 2025 | 5th | 2023 | Runners-up (2015) |
Venues
The host country for the final tournament is Morocco, appointed during the General Assembly held in Marrakech, Morocco on 16 December 2024.[2]
Draw
The draw procedure was announced on 10 February 2025[3], with the draw to occur on 13 February 2025 in Cairo, Egypt. The 16 teams were drawn into four groups of four teams.[4] Teams are seeded according to their performance in the 2023 U-17 Africa Cup of Nations. Hosts Morocco were automatically assigned to Position A1 in the draw. Previous edition winners Senegal were assigned to Position C1 with Burkina Faso and Mali assigned to positions B1 and D1 respectively. The rest of the field were placed in Pot 1 to be drawn into the remaining positions.
| Seeded | Pot 1 |
|---|---|
|
Group Stage
Tiebreakers
Teams will be 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:
- Points in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
- Goal difference in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
- 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;
- Goal difference in all group matches;
- Goals scored in all group matches;
- Drawing of lots.
Group A
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Morocco (H)
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Knockout stage and 2025 FIFA U-17 World Cup |
| 2 | Uganda
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 3 | Tanzania
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | FIFA U-17 World Cup play-off |
| 4 | Zambia
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers
(H) Hosts
Group B
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Burkina Faso
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Knockout stage and 2025 FIFA U-17 World Cup |
| 2 | UNIFAC 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 3 | South Africa
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | FIFA U-17 World Cup play-off |
| 4 | Egypt
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Group C
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Senegal
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Knockout stage and 2025 FIFA U-17 World Cup |
| 2 | Gambia
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 3 | Somalia
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | FIFA U-17 World Cup play-off |
| 4 | Tunisia
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Group D
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mali
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Knockout stage and 2025 FIFA U-17 World Cup |
| 2 | Angola
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 3 | Ivory Coast
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | FIFA U-17 World Cup play-off |
| 4 | UNIFAC 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
FIFA U-17 World Cup play-off
Winners qualify for 2025 FIFA U-17 World Cup.
| A3 | Play-off 1 | C3 |
|---|---|---|
| B3 | Play-off 2 | D3 |
|---|---|---|
Knockout stage
In the knockout stage, penalty shoot-outs are used to decide the winner if necessary (Regulations Article 75).
Bracket
| Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Final | ||||||||
| April 2025 | ||||||||||
| Winners Group A | ||||||||||
| April 2025 | ||||||||||
| Runners-up Group B | ||||||||||
| QF1 | ||||||||||
| April 2025 | ||||||||||
| QF4 | ||||||||||
| Winners Group D | ||||||||||
| 19 April 2025 | ||||||||||
| Runners-up Group C | ||||||||||
| SF1 | ||||||||||
| April 2025 | ||||||||||
| SF2 | ||||||||||
| Winners Group C | ||||||||||
| April 2025 | ||||||||||
| Runners-up Group D | ||||||||||
| QF3 | ||||||||||
| April 2025 | ||||||||||
| QF2 | Third place match | |||||||||
| Winners Group B | ||||||||||
| April 2025 | ||||||||||
| Runners-up Group A | ||||||||||
| LSF1 | ||||||||||
| LSF2 | ||||||||||
Quarter-finals
| A1 | QF1 | B2 |
|---|---|---|
| B1 | QF2 | A2 |
|---|---|---|
| C1 | QF3 | D2 |
|---|---|---|
| D1 | QF4 | C2 |
|---|---|---|
Semi-finals
| QF1 | SF1 | QF4 |
|---|---|---|
| QF3 | SF2 | QF2 |
|---|---|---|
Third place match
| LSF1 | 3rd Place | LSF2 |
|---|---|---|
Final
| SF1 | Final | SF2 |
|---|---|---|
Tournament rankings
| Ranking criteria |
|---|
For teams eliminated in the same knockout round, the following criteria are applied, in the order given, to determine the final rankings:
For teams eliminated in the group stage, the following criteria are applied, in the order given, to determine the final rankings
|
| Pos. | Team | Pld | W | D | L | Pts | GF | GA | GD | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ||||||||||
| 2 | ||||||||||
| 3 | ||||||||||
| 4 | ||||||||||
| Eliminated in the quarter-finals | ||||||||||
| 5 | ||||||||||
| 6 | ||||||||||
| 7 | ||||||||||
| 8 | ||||||||||
| Eliminated in the group stage | ||||||||||
| 9 | ||||||||||
| 10 | ||||||||||
| 11 | ||||||||||
| 12 | ||||||||||
| 13 | ||||||||||
| 14 | ||||||||||
| 15 | ||||||||||
| 16 | ||||||||||
See also
References
- ^ "CAF Executive Committee approves 2025 Competition Calendar and TotalEnergies CAF Africa Cup of Nations Morocco 2025 Final Draw Date". 16 December 2024. Retrieved 17 December 2024.
- ^ Times, iDiski (December 16, 2024). "CAF Announces Key Dates For 2025".
- ^ "Final Draw for the TotalEnergies CAF Under-17 Africa Cup of Nations, Morocco 2025 to take place on 13 February at CAF headquarters in Cairo". Final Draw for the TotalEnergies CAF Under-17 Africa Cup of Nations, Morocco 2025 to take place on 13 February at CAF headquarters in Cairo. Retrieved 2025-02-12.
- ^ "Uganda, Tanzania placed in Group A for U-17 AFCON - CECAFA FOOTBALL" (in Italian). 13 February 2025. Retrieved 13 February 2025.