The 2023 U-20 Africa Cup of Nations (, ), known as the 2023 U20 AFCON or 2023 AFCON U20 for short and as the 2023 TotalEnergies U-20 Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship purposes, was the 17th edition (24th if editions of the tournament without hosts are included) of the biennial African international youth football tournament organized by the Confederation of African Football. Egypt hosted the tournament, which took place from 19 February to 11 March 2023. The tournament involved 12 teams, Senegal won the tournament for the first time, defeating Gambia in the final and did not concede a single goal the entire tournament.

This edition of the tournament also doubles as the African qualifiers for the 2023 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Argentina where teams who reached the semi-finals stage qualified automatically and also for the 2023 African Games in Accra, Ghana where teams who reached the quarter-finals stage qualified automatically too.

Ghana were the defending champions following their 4th title win in 2021, but failed to qualify for this edition after losing to Nigeria in the WAFU sub-regional qualification tournament.

Qualification

Player eligibility Players born 1 January 2003 or later are eligible to participate in the competition.

Qualified teams The following 12 teams qualified for the group stages:

Team Zone Date of qualificationAppearance Last appearance Previous best performance (hosts) North Zone 12th 2017 (1991, 2003, 2013) 2nd 2021 (2021) West B Zone 3rd 2013 (2005) 12th 2019 (2005, 2011, 2015) West A Zone 6th 2019 (2015, 2017, 2019) 4th 2021 (2007, 2021) 　 Central Zone 2nd 2021 (2021) 　 3rd 2015 (2007) 　 Central-East Zone 2nd 2021 (2021) 　 1st None 　 South Zone 2nd 2021 (2021) 　 8th 2017 (2017)

Venues Cairo Ismailia Cairo International Stadium Suez Canal Stadium Capacity: 75,000 Capacity: 22,000 Alexandria Haras El Hodoud Stadium Alexandria Stadium Capacity: 22,000 Capacity: 20,000

Match officials On 18 February 2023, CAF announced a total of 16 referees (including 2 women), 18 assistant referees (including 4 women) and 6 video assistant referees (VAR) appointed for the tournament.

Referees

Issa Mouhamed Hamidou Diero Mohamed Athoumani Yannick Kabanga Malala Clement Franklin Kpan Mohamed Diraneh Guedi Mahmoud Ahmed Nagy Lamin Jammeh Ahmed Abdulrazg Sory Ibrahima Keita Jallal Jayed Bouchra Karboubi Omar Abdulkadir Artan Jean-Claude Ishimwe El Hadj Amadou Sy Akhona Makalima

Assistant referees

Hamza Bouzit Pascal Ndimunzigo Styven Moutsassi Yara Atef Mohamed Abouzid Sami Halhal Yehualashet Fasika Biru Roland Nii Dodoo Joel Wonka Doe Dimbiniaina Andriatianarivelo Fanta Idrissa Kone Fatiha Jermoumi Soukaina Hamdi Abdoul Aziz Moctar Saley Igho Hope Shaji Padayachy Omer Hamid Mohamed Ahmed Jonathan Ahonto Koffi Mohamed Bakir

Video assistant referees

Elvis Noupoue Mahmoud Ashour Ahmed Elghandour Daniel Nii Laryea Dahane Beida El Hadj Malick Samba

Squads

Draw The draw for the group stage was held at CAF's headquarters in Cairo, Egypt on 23 December 2022 at 19:00 EST (UTC+2). The 12 teams were drawn into 3 groups of 4 with the teams seeded according to their performance in the previous edition of the tournament. Hosts Egypt automatically seeded and assigned to Position A1 in the draw.

Pot 1Pot 2Pot 3

Group stage The top two teams of each group advance to the quarter-finals along with the two best 3rd-placed teams.

Tiebreakers Teams are ranked according to points (3 for a win, 1 for a draw and none for a loss), and if tied on points, the following tie-breaking criteria are applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings (Regulations Article 13). 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 in EST (UTC+2).

Group A

Group B

Group C

Ranking of third-placed teams

Knockout stage

Quarter-finals Winners qualify for the 2023 FIFA U-20 World Cup.

Semi-finals

Third place

Final

Goalscorers

Awards The following awards were given at the conclusion of the tournament: Player of the Tournament Lamine CamaraTop Scorer Pape DiopBest Goalkeeper Landing BadjiBest Coach Malick Daf ()CAF Fair Play Team

Team of the Tournament GoalkeeperDefendersMidfieldersForwards Landing Badji

Qualified teams for the FIFA U-20 World Cup The following teams from CAF qualified for the 2023 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Argentina.

Team Qualified onPrevious appearances in FIFA U-20 World Cup1 3 (2015, 2017, 2019) 12 (1983, 1985, 1987, 1989, 1999, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2019) 1 (2007) 2 (1977, 1985) 1 Bold indicates champions for that year. Italic indicates hosts for that year.

Qualified teams for the 2023 African Games The following teams qualified for the 2023 African Games men's football tournament in Accra, Ghana.

Team Qualified onPrevious appearances in African Games1Host nation7 (1973, 1978, 2003, 2007, 2011, 2015, 2019)25 February 20237 (1973, 1978, 1991, 1995, 2003, 2015, 2019)5 (1987, 2003, 2011, 2015, 2019)26 February 20234 (1965, 1973, 1995, 2015)0 (debut)4 (1965, 1991, 1999, 2011)27 February 20230 (debut)0 (debut)3 (1987, 1991, 2007) 1 Bold indicates champions for that year. Italic indicates hosts for that year.

See also 2023 U-17 Africa Cup of Nations

References