By Victor Kanayo
When the Confederation of African Football (CAF) conducts the draw for the U20 Africa Cup of Nations on Thursday, 13 February 2025, in Cairo, Egypt, DR Congo will not be included.
This is because FIFA recently banned the Central African nation from all its football activities pending the resolution of interference issues surrounding the country’s football operations.
The upcoming tournament will feature 13 teams competing from 26 April to 18 May 2025, with the top four nations qualifying for the 2025 FIFA Under-20 World Cup, which will be staged in Chile from 27 September to 19 October 2025.
Teams that have so far qualified for the U20 AFCON are Côte d’Ivoire (hosts), Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tanzania, and Zambia.
Tournament Format
CAF, in a statement, confirmed that the qualified teams will be divided into three groups (A, B, and C), with Group A containing five teams and Groups B and C four teams each. Côte d’Ivoire, as the host nation, is automatically preassigned to position A1 in Group A.
The remainder of the seeds for each group have been determined based on the final placings in the TotalEnergies CAF Under-20 AFCON, Egypt 2023.
Holders Senegal take up position C1, while Nigeria, who finished third two years ago, take up position B1.
The identity of the second team from the UNIFFAC Zonal Union is yet to be determined following Congo’s FIFA suspension. However, the team representing UNIFFAC will be placed in Pot 1 (Level 2) alongside Egypt and Zambia. The teams in Pot 1 will be drawn into positions A2, B2, and C2.
The top two teams in each group will qualify for the quarter-finals, along with the two best third-placed sides, before the competition continues in a knockout format.
The final draw will have former Mali international Adama Coulibaly and ex-Senegal star Souleymane Camara serve as draw assistants.
