2019_Africa_U-20_Cup_of_Nations
2019 U-20 Africa Cup of Nations
International football competition
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]
| Coupe d'Afrique des nations des moins de 20 ans 2019 | |
|---|---|
| Tournament details | |
| Host country | Niger |
| Dates | 2–17 February |
| Teams | 8 (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 played | 16 |
| Goals scored | 31 (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 |
← 2017 2021 → | |
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.
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) | 1st | Debut |
 Burkina Faso | 3rd | Fourth place (2003) |
 Burundi | 2nd | Runners-up (1995) |
 Ghana | 11th | Champions (1993, 1999, 2009) |
| Mali | 12th | Third place (2003) |
| Nigeria | 11th | Champions (2005, 2011, 2015) |
| Senegal | 5th | Runners-up (2015, 2017) |
| South Africa | 8th | Runners-up (1997) |
The matches were played in two venues:
| Niamey | Maradi | |
|---|---|---|
| Stade Général Seyni Kountché | Stade de Maradi | |
| Capacity: 35,000 | Capacity: 15,000 | |
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 |
|---|---|---|
A total of 12 referees and 12 assistant referees were appointed for the tournament.[10][11]
|
Referees
|
Assistant Referees
|
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]
- 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 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;
- Goal difference in all group matches;
- Goals scored in all group matches;
- 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 |
| Burundi | 3–3 | Niger |
|---|---|---|
|
Report |
|
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 |
| Senegal | 5–1 | Burkina Faso |
|---|---|---|
|
Report |
|
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-finals | Final | |||||
| 13 February – Niamey | ||||||
| Nigeria | 1 (3) | |||||
| 17 February – Niamey | ||||||
| Mali | 1 (4) | |||||
| Mali | 1 (3) | |||||
| 13 February – Niamey | ||||||
| Senegal | 1 (2) | |||||
| Senegal | 1 | |||||
| South Africa | 0 | |||||
| Third place match | ||||||
| 16 February – Niamey | ||||||
| Nigeria | 0 (3) | |||||
| South Africa | 0 (5) | |||||
Semi-finals
| Nigeria | 1–1 (a.e.t.) | Mali |
|---|---|---|
|
Report |
|
| Penalties | ||
|
3–4 | |
Third place match
| Nigeria | 0–0 | South Africa |
|---|---|---|
| Report | ||
| Penalties | ||
|
3–5 | |
Final
| Mali | 1–1 (a.e.t.) | Senegal |
|---|---|---|
|
Report |
|
| Penalties | ||
| 3–2 |
|
|
| 2019 Africa U-20 Cup of Nations |
|---|
 Mali First title |
- 3 goals
- 2 goals
Daniel Lomotey
Mamadou Traoré
- 1 goal
Abdoul Tapsoba
Saidi Irakoze- Bienvenue Kanakimana
- Jules Ulimwengu
- Boubacar Traoré
- Hadji Dramé
Kairou Amoustapha- Boubacar Goumey
- Mahamadou Sabo
- Issah Salou
Ibrahim Alhassan- Paschal Durugbor
- Maxwell Effiom
- Nazifi Yahaya
Samba Diallo- Dion Lopy
- Faly Ndaw
- Ousseynou Niang
Luke Le Roux- Siphesihle Mkhize
- 1 own goal
- Givemore Khupe (against Senegal)
- Top scorer
- Player of the tournament
- Fair Play Award
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Senegal | 6 February 2019 | 2 (2015, 2017) |
| Nigeria | 8 February 2019 | 11 (1983, 1985, 1987, 1989, 1999, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015) |
| South Africa | 8 February 2019 | 3 (1997, 2009, 2017) |
| Mali | 9 February 2019 | 6 (1989, 1999, 2003, 2011, 2013, 2015) |
- 1 Bold indicates champions for that year. Italic indicates hosts for that year.
- 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]
- "CAF EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE DECISIONS OF 26 MAY 2015". www.cafonline.com. 27 May 2015. Retrieved 25 February 2018.
- "Ghana completes roster for Niger". CAF. 13 August 2018.
- "Regulations of the U-20 Africa Cup of Nations" (PDF). CAFonline.com. 3 October 2016. Retrieved 3 October 2016.
- "Total U-20 Africa Cup of Nations Niger, 2019: Squad lists revealed". CAFonline.com. 30 January 2019.
- "Squad Lists" (PDF). CAFonline.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 February 2019.
- "Tough draw for Regional rivals as host Niger draw neighbours Nigeria". CAF. 13 December 2018.
- "Draw Procedure for Total U-20 Africa Cup of Nations Niger 2019". CAF. 12 December 2018.
- "Match Officials for Niger 2019 confirmed". CAF. 21 January 2019.
- "LIST OF SELECTED REFEREES U20 NIGER 2019" (PDF). CAF.
- @CAF_Online (January 31, 2019). "Here is the fixtures of #TotalAFCONU20" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- "Ghana to wait longer for U20 Afcon opener after postponement of Sunday's fixture". Goal.com. 4 February 2019.
- "Modification of Group B matches". CAF. 4 February 2019.
- "MALI SECURE FIRST U-20 TITLE ON PENALTIES". CAF. 17 February 2019. Retrieved 17 February 2019.
- "Mali complete African quartet headed to Poland 2019". 9 February 2019. Archived from the original on February 13, 2019.
- 21st Edition TOTAL U-20 Africa Cup Of Nations, Niger 2019, CAFonline.com