Flying Eagles to Discover New U20 AFCON Opponents on Sunday
Nigeria’s Flying Eagles will find out their new group stage opponents for the 2025 TotalEnergies U-20 Africa Cup of Nations on Sunday, 13 April.
This comes after the Confederation of African Football (CAF) announced that a new draw will be held because the tournament host has changed.
CAF had earlier conducted the official draw on 13 February in Cairo, placing Nigeria in Group B with Egypt, Morocco, and South Africa.
Host Change Leads to New Draw
However, on 26 March, the Ivorian Football Federation unexpectedly withdrew from hosting the tournament. CAF then moved the competition to Egypt and cancelled the original draw.
In a statement on its official website, CAF confirmed that all qualified teams have been informed of the new draw, which will take place at 17:00 local time (15:00 GMT) on Sunday at the Egyptian Football Association headquarters. The draw will be shown live on ON Time Sports and CAF TV.
Changes to Qualification and Groups
Due to the change in host, CAF’s Executive Committee also made changes to the qualification process. More teams from the UNAF region have now been included, with extra slots given to second and third-placed teams. Also, Congo’s suspension means the Central African Republic, who lost to them in the qualifiers, will now take their place.
According to CAF rules, host nation Egypt will be placed in position A1, Nigeria in B1, and current champions Senegal in C1.
The draw will split the 13 qualified teams into three groups — Group A will have five teams, while Groups B and C will each have four. The top two teams from each group, along with the two best third-placed teams, will reach the quarter-finals.
Draw Pots Confirmed
Teams that played in the last tournament — Tunisia, Zambia, and Central African Republic — will be in Pot 1.
Teams that missed the last edition, including Morocco, Sierra Leone (who are making their debut), Ghana, Tanzania, Kenya, South Africa, and DR Congo, will be placed in Pot 2.
The 2025 U-20 AFCON will be held in Egypt from 27 April to 18 May.
