The 2026 CECAFA U-20 Championship is the 16th edition of the CECAFA U-20 Championship, an international youth football tournament open to national associations of the CECAFA region. It will take place between 15 and 25 September 2026 in Tanzania. This competition served as the CECAFA qualifiers for the 2027 U-20 Africa Cup of Nations.
Tanzania won previous edition title in 2024.
Teams
Did not enter
Venues CitiesVenuesCapacityDar es SalaamUhuru Stadium23,000
Match officials
Referees
Ephrame Debele (Ethiopia) Joshua Duula (Uganda) Dickens Mimisa (Kenya) Nasser Houssein (Djibouti) Celestin Nsabimana (Rwanda) Amro Ismail (Sudan) Herry Sasii (Tanzania) Anthony Kiri (South Sudan)
Assistant Referees Mustefa Meki (Ethiopia) Saidi Hamisi Ndayisaba (Rwanda) Ashiraf Katerega (Uganda) Elizabeth Njoroge (Kenya) Nelson Baeina (South Sudan) Rachid Waiss (Djibouti) Olivier Nibogora (Burundi) Kassim Mpanga (Tanzania)
Draw The draw was held on 31 August 2026 at 12:00 EAT (UTC+3) at Kigali.The 9 teams were drawn into three groups of three teams, with hosts Tanzania seeded in Group A (position A1), Uganda seeded in Group B (position B1) and South Sudan seeded in Group C (position C1). The remaining 6 teams were allocated to two pots based on the results of the previous tournament edition and were drawn to the remaining positions.
SeededPot 1Pot 2 (hosts)
Group stage
The group stage is played in 3 groups as a round-robin, where the winners and the best runner-up advanced to the semi-finals.
Group A
Group B
Group C
Knockout stage
Semi-finals
Third place
Final
Goalscorers
References