2019 Africa U-20 Cup of Nations

The 2019 Africa U-20 Cup of Nations was the 15th edition of the Africa U-20 Cup of Nations (22nd edition if tournaments without hosts are included), the biennial international youth football tournament organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) for players aged 20 and below. In May 2015, it was decided that the tournament would be hosted by Niger.[1]

2019 Africa U-20 Cup of Nations
Coupe d'Afrique des nations des moins de 20 ans 2019
Tournament details
Host countryNiger
Dates2–17 February 2019
Teams8 (from 1 confederation)
Venue(s)2 (in 2 host cities)
Final positions
Champions Mali (1st title)
Runners-up Senegal
Third place South Africa
Fourth place Nigeria
Tournament statistics
Matches played16
Goals scored31 (1.94 per match)
Top scorer(s) Youssouph Mamadou Badji
Amadou Dia N'Diaye
(3 goals each)
Best player(s) Moussa N'Diaye
Fair play award Senegal

The top four teams of the tournament qualified for the 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Poland as the CAF representatives. Mali won their first title, while the other qualified teams which finished second to fourth were Senegal, South Africa and Nigeria. Defending champions Zambia failed to qualify.

Qualification
Main article: 2019 Africa U-20 Cup of Nations qualification

The qualifiers were played between 30 March and 12 August 2018. At the end of the qualification phase, seven teams joined the hosts Niger.

Player eligibility

Players born 1 January 1999 or later are eligible to participate in the competition.

Qualified teams

The following eights teams qualified for the final tournament.[2]

Note: All appearance statistics count only those since the introduction of final tournament in 1991.

Team Appearance Previous best performance
 Niger (hosts)1stDebut
 Burkina Faso3rdFourth place (2003)
 Burundi2ndRunners-up (1995)
 Ghana11thChampions (1993, 1999, 2009)
 Mali12thThird place (2003)
 Nigeria11thChampions (2005, 2011, 2015)
 Senegal5thRunners-up (2015, 2017)
 South Africa8thRunners-up (1997)

Venues

The matches were played in two venues:

Niamey
Maradi
Stade Général Seyni Kountché Stade de Maradi
Capacity: 35,000 Capacity: 15,000

Squads
Further information: 2019 Africa U-20 Cup of Nations squads

Each squad can contain a maximum of 21 players.[3][4][5]

Draw

The draw of the final tournament was held on 13 December 2018, 21:00 WAT (UTC+1), at the Centre Technique de La Fenifoot in Niamey.[6][7] The eight teams were drawn into two groups of four teams. The hosts Niger were seeded in Group A and allocated to position A1, while 2017 runners-up Senegal were seeded in Group B and allocated to position B1 (2017 champions Zambia did not qualify). The remaining six teams were seeded based on their results in the 2017 Africa U-20 Cup of Nations (final tournament and qualifiers), and drawn to any of the remaining three positions in each group.[8][9]

Seeds Pot 1 Pot 2

Match officials

A total of 12 referees and 12 assistant referees were appointed for the tournament.[10][11]

Group stage

The top two teams of each group advance to the semi-finals and qualify for the 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup.

Tiebreakers

Teams are ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point 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 (Regulations Article 71):[3]

  1. Points in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
  2. Goal difference in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
  3. Goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
  4. If more than two teams are tied, and after applying all head-to-head criteria above, a subset of teams are still tied, all head-to-head criteria above are reapplied exclusively to this subset of teams;
  5. Goal difference in all group matches;
  6. Goals scored in all group matches;
  7. Drawing of lots.

All times are local, WAT (UTC+1).[12]

Group A
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Nigeria 3 2 1 0 3 0 +3 7 Knockout stage and
2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup
2  South Africa 3 1 2 0 2 1 +1 5
3  Niger (H) 3 0 2 1 4 5 −1 2
4  Burundi 3 0 1 2 3 6 −3 1
Source: CAF
Rules for classification: Group stage tiebreakers
(H) Host.
Niger 1–1 South Africa
  • Goumey  63'
 Report
Referee: Ahmad Imtehaz Heeralall (Mauritius)
Nigeria 2–0 Burundi
  • Yahaya  55'
  • Effiom  71'
 Report
Referee: Antoine Max Depadoux Effa Essouma (Cameroon)
South Africa 0–0 Nigeria
Report
Referee: Peter Waweru (Kenya)
Burundi 3–3 Niger
 Report
Referee: Amin Mohamed Amin Mohamed Omar (Egypt)
Niger 0–1 Nigeria
Report
  • Alhassan  73'
Referee: Boubou Traore (Mali)
South Africa 1–0 Burundi
 Report
Referee: Haythem Guirat (Tunisia)

Group B
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Senegal 3 3 0 0 9 1 +8 9 Knockout stage and
2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup
2  Mali 3 2 0 1 2 2 0 6
3  Ghana 3 1 0 2 2 3 −1 3
4  Burkina Faso 3 0 0 3 1 8 −7 0
Source: CAF
Rules for classification: Group stage tiebreakers
Senegal 2–0 Mali
  • Lopy  71'
  • Ndaw  90'
 Report
Referee: Haythem Guirat (Tunisia)
Burkina Faso 0–2 Ghana
Report
  • Lomotey  41', 77'
Referee: Mohamed Ali Moussa (Niger)
Mali 1–0 Burkina Faso
  • M. Traoré  52'
 Report
Referee: Souleiman Ahmed Djamal (Djibouti)
Ghana 0–2 Senegal
Report
Referee: Jean Claude Ishimwe (Rwanda)
Senegal 5–1 Burkina Faso
 Report
  • Tapsoba  34'
Referee: Hassan Mohamed Hagi (Somalia)
Mali 1–0 Ghana
  • Dramé  53'
 Report
Referee: Pacifique Ndabihawenimana (Burundi)

Knockout stage

In the knockout stage, extra time and penalty shoot-out are used to decide the winner if necessary, except for the third place match where penalty shoot-out (no extra time) is used to decide the winner if necessary (Regulations Article 72).[3]

Bracket
 
Semi-finalsFinal
 
      
 
13 February – Niamey
 
 
 Nigeria1 (3)
 
17 February – Niamey
 
 Mali1 (4)
 
 Mali1 (3)
 
13 February – Niamey
 
 Senegal1 (2)
 
 Senegal1
 
 
 South Africa0
 
Third place match
 
 
16 February – Niamey
 
 
 Nigeria0 (3)
 
 
 South Africa0 (5)

Semi-finals
Nigeria 1–1 (a.e.t.) Mali
  • Durugbor  86'
 Report
  • M. Traoré  78'
Penalties
 3–4
Referee: Amin Mohamed Amin Mohamed Omar (Egypt)
Senegal 1–0 South Africa
 Report
Referee: Pacifique Ndabihawenimana (Burundi)

Third place match
Nigeria 0–0 South Africa
Report
Penalties
 3–5
Referee: Mohamed Ali Moussa (Niger)

Final
Mali 1–1 (a.e.t.) Senegal
  • B. Traoré  16'
 Report
Penalties
  • B. Traoré
  • L. N'Diaye
  • Diaby
  • Samaké
3–2
Referee: Haythem Guirat (Tunisia)

Winners
 2019 Africa U-20 Cup of Nations 

Mali
First title

Goalscorers
3 goals
2 goals
  • Daniel Lomotey
  • Mamadou Traoré
1 goal
1 own goal

Awards
Top scorer
Player of the tournament
Fair Play Award

Qualified teams for FIFA U-20 World Cup

The following four teams from CAF qualified for the 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup.[16]

Team Qualified on Previous appearances in FIFA U-20 World Cup1
 Senegal6 February 20192 (2015, 2017)
 Nigeria8 February 201911 (1983, 1985, 1987, 1989, 1999, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015)
 South Africa8 February 20193 (1997, 2009, 2017)
 Mali9 February 20196 (1989, 1999, 2003, 2011, 2013, 2015)
1 Bold indicates champions for that year. Italic indicates hosts for that year.

Notes
  1. The Burkina Faso v Ghana match was originally scheduled for 3 February 2019, 19:30 local time, but was postponed to the following day due to mechanical issues for floodlights visual and weather.[13] The Mali v Burkina Faso and Ghana and Senegal matches on 6 February 2019 were also brought forward from 16:30 and 19:30 to 13:30 and 16:30 for the same reason.[14]
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References
  1. "CAF EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE DECISIONS OF 26 MAY 2015". www.cafonline.com. 27 May 2015. Retrieved 25 February 2018.
  2. "Ghana completes roster for Niger". CAF. 13 August 2018.
  3. "Regulations of the U-20 Africa Cup of Nations" (PDF). CAFonline.com. 3 October 2016. Retrieved 3 October 2016.
  4. "Total U-20 Africa Cup of Nations Niger, 2019: Squad lists revealed". CAFonline.com. 30 January 2019.
  5. "Squad Lists" (PDF). CAFonline.com.
  6. "Accreditation for official draw of Total U-20 AFCON Niger 2019 & Total U-17 AFCON Tanzania 2019". CAF. 29 November 2018.
  7. "Tough draw for Regional rivals as host Niger draw neighbours Nigeria". CAF. 13 December 2018.
  8. "Draw Procedure for Total U-20 Africa Cup of Nations Niger 2019". CAF. 12 December 2018.
  9. "Procedures of the draw of the 21st Edition TOTAL U-20 Africa Cup of Nations, Niger 2019" (PDF). CAF.
  10. "Match Officials for Niger 2019 confirmed". CAF. 21 January 2019.
  11. "LIST OF SELECTED REFEREES U20 NIGER 2019" (PDF). CAF.
  12. @CAF_Online (31 January 2019). "Here is the fixtures of #TotalAFCONU20" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  13. "Ghana to wait longer for U20 Afcon opener after postponement of Sunday's fixture". Goal.com. 4 February 2019.
  14. "Modification of Group B matches". CAF. 4 February 2019.
  15. "MALI SECURE FIRST U-20 TITLE ON PENALTIES". CAF. 17 February 2019. Retrieved 17 February 2019.
  16. "Mali complete African quartet headed to Poland 2019". 9 February 2019.
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