2023 CAF U-20 Africa Cup of Nations| كأس أمم إفريقيا تحت 20 سنة 2023 | 
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| Host country | Egypt | 
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| Dates | 19 February – 11 March | 
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| Teams | 12 (from 1 confederation) | 
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| Venue(s) | 3 (in 3 host cities) | 
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| Champions |  Senegal (1st title) | 
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| Runners-up |  Gambia | 
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| Third place |  Nigeria | 
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| Fourth place |  Tunisia | 
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| Matches played | 26 | 
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| Goals scored | 54 (2.08 per match) | 
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| Top scorer(s) |  Pape Diop (5 goals)[1] | 
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| Best player(s) |  Lamine Camara[2] | 
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| Best goalkeeper |  Landing Badji[3] | 
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| Fair play award |  Nigeria[4] | 
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 The 2023 U-20 Africa Cup of Nations (Arabic: كأس أمم إفريقيا تحت 20 سنة 2023, French: Coupe d'Afrique des nations de football des moins de 20 ans 2023), 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.[5] 
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.[6][7] 
  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: 
   Venues
  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.[9][10] 
Referees 
   Issa Mouhamed Issa Mouhamed
 Hamidou Diero Hamidou Diero
 Mohamed Athoumani Mohamed Athoumani
 Yannick Kabanga Malala Yannick Kabanga Malala
 Clement Franklin Kpan Clement Franklin Kpan
 Mohamed Diraneh Guedi Mohamed Diraneh Guedi
 Mahmoud Ahmed Nagy Mahmoud Ahmed Nagy
 Lamin Jammeh Lamin Jammeh
 Ahmed Abdulrazg Ahmed Abdulrazg
 Sory Ibrahima Keita Sory Ibrahima Keita
 Jallal Jayed Jallal Jayed
 Bouchra Karboubi Bouchra Karboubi
 Omar Abdulkadir Artan Omar Abdulkadir Artan
 Jean-Claude Ishimwe Jean-Claude Ishimwe
 El Hadj Amadou Sy El Hadj Amadou Sy
 Akhona Makalima Akhona Makalima
  Assistant referees 
   Hamza Bouzit Hamza Bouzit
 Pascal Ndimunzigo Pascal Ndimunzigo
 Styven Moutsassi Styven Moutsassi
 Yara Atef Yara Atef
 Mohamed Abouzid Sami Halhal Mohamed Abouzid Sami Halhal
 Yehualashet Fasika Biru Yehualashet Fasika Biru
 Roland Nii Dodoo Roland Nii Dodoo
 Joel Wonka Doe Joel Wonka Doe
 Dimbiniaina Andriatianarivelo Dimbiniaina Andriatianarivelo
 Fanta Idrissa Kone Fanta Idrissa Kone
 Fatiha Jermoumi Fatiha Jermoumi
 Soukaina Hamdi Soukaina Hamdi
 Abdoul Aziz Moctar Saley Abdoul Aziz Moctar Saley
 Igho Hope Igho Hope
 Shaji Padayachy Shaji Padayachy
 Omer Hamid Mohamed Ahmed Omer Hamid Mohamed Ahmed
.svg.png) Jonathan Ahonto Koffi Jonathan Ahonto Koffi
 Mohamed Bakir Mohamed Bakir
  Video assistant referees 
   Elvis Noupoue Elvis Noupoue
 Mahmoud Ashour Mahmoud Ashour
 Ahmed Elghandour Ahmed Elghandour
 Daniel Nii Laryea Daniel Nii Laryea
 Dahane Beida Dahane Beida
 El Hadj Malick Samba 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).[11] 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. 
  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).[12] 
 - 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
    - ^ a b Drawing of lots: Egypt 1; Mozambique 2 
    
   
   Group B
    - ^ a b Drawing of lots: Uganda 1; Congo 2[13] 
    
   
   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
 There were 54 goals scored in 26 matches, for an average of 2.08 goals per match. 
5 goals 
  4 goals 
  2 goals 
  1 goal 
  1 own goal 
   Tamimou Ouorou (against the Gambia) Tamimou Ouorou (against the Gambia)
 Ibrahim Juma (against Nigeria) Ibrahim Juma (against Nigeria)
  Awards
 The following awards were given at the conclusion of the tournament: 
  Team of the Tournament
   | Goalkeeper | Defenders | Midfielders | Forwards | 
  |  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.[18] 
    | Team | Qualified on | Previous appearances in FIFA U-20 World Cup1 | 
  |  Senegal | 2 March 2023 | 3 (2015, 2017, 2019) | 
  |  Nigeria | 2 March 2023 | 12 (1983, 1985, 1987, 1989, 1999, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2019) | 
  |  Gambia | 3 March 2023 | 1 (2007) | 
  |  Tunisia | 3 March 2023 | 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 on | Previous appearances in African Games1 | 
  |  Ghana | Host nation | 7 (1973, 1978, 2003, 2007, 2011, 2015, 2019) | 
  |  Nigeria | 25 February 2023 | 7 (1973, 1978, 1991, 1995, 2003, 2015, 2019) | 
  |  Senegal | 5 (1987, 2003, 2011, 2015, 2019) | 
  |  Congo | 26 February 2023 | 4 (1965, 1973, 1995, 2015) | 
  |  South Sudan | 0 (debut) | 
  |  Uganda | 4 (1965, 1991, 1999, 2011) | 
  |  Benin | 27 February 2023 | 0 (debut) | 
  |  Gambia | 0 (debut) | 
  |  Tunisia | 3 (1987, 1991, 2007) | 
 - 1 Bold indicates champions for that year. Italic indicates hosts for that year. 
See also
  References
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| African Qualification Tournament |  | 
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| African Youth Championship | | Tournaments |  | 
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 | Qualification |  1991199319951997199920012003200520072009
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 | Squads |  | 
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| African U-20 Championship | | Editions |  | 
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 | Qualification |  | 
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 | Squads |  | 
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| U-20 Africa Cup of Nations | | Editions |  | 
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 | Qualification |  | 
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 | Squads |  | 
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 | Finals |  | 
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