By Victor Kanayo
The Confederation of African Football (CAF) may conduct fresh group draws for the 2025 U20 African Nations Cup coming up in Egypt.
Ivory Coast had announced it had withdrawn as hosts, also forfeiting their automatic qualification spot.
Egypt, the new host country was not immediately announced on March 27, 2025.
In the draw conducted by CAF ahead of the competition, Nigeria will play in Group B where they will face former champions Egypt and Morocco as well as South Africa.
In Group A, former hosts, Côte d’Ivoire are in the same group with DR Congo, Ghana, Tanzania, and a second representative from the UNIFFAC region, making it one of the most competitive groups.
Group C sees Senegal begin their title defence against Zambia, Kenya, and Sierra Leone, promising another fiercely contested group.
Egypt, seeing Group B as group of death and likely not qualify, is in talks with CAF to conduct new draw such that the hosts will be in fair and better group making qualification for knockout stages easier for the north African nation.
Despite this, the date for the commencement of the competition remain unchanged. The CAF age grade competition starts from 26th April to May 18th, 2025
