2021 U-20 Africa Cup of Nations
16th edition of youth football tournament
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The 2021 U-20 Africa Cup of Nations was the 16th edition (23rd edition if editions of the tournament 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 September 2018, it was decided that the tournament would be hosted by Mauritania.[2][3][4][5] This would be the first edition of the Africa U-20 Cup of Nations to be expanded to 12 teams instead of eight.[6] The top four teams of the tournament would have normally qualified for the 2021 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Indonesia as the CAF representatives. However, FIFA decided to cancel the tournament on 24 December 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[7]
| كأس أمم إفريقيا تحت 20 سنة 2021 Coupe d'Afrique des Nations des U-20 2021 | |
|---|---|
| |
| Tournament details | |
| Host country | Mauritania |
| Dates | 14 February – 6 March[1] |
| Teams | 12 (from 1 confederation) |
| Venues | 3 (in 2 host cities) |
| Final positions | |
| Champions |  Ghana (4th title) |
| Runners-up |  Uganda |
| Third place |  Gambia |
| Fourth place |  Tunisia |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 26 |
| Goals scored | 52 (2 per match) |
| Top scorer(s) | Derrick Kakooza (5 goals) |
| Best player | Abdul Fatawu |
| Fair play award | Uganda |
← 2019 2023 → | |
The defending champions Mali failed to qualify. Ghana won their fourth title by defeating debutant Uganda in the final.
Qualification
At the end of the qualification phase, eleven teams will join the hosts Mauritania.
Player eligibility
Players born 1 January 2001 or later are eligible to participate in the competition.
Qualified teams
The following 12 teams qualified for the group stages.
Note: All appearance statistics count only those since the introduction of the competition in 1991.
| Team | Zone | Appearance | Previous best performance |
|---|---|---|---|
 Mauritania (hosts) | West A Zone | 1st | Debut |
 Morocco | North Zone | 5th | Champions (1997) |
| Tunisia | North Zone | 1st | Debut |
| Gambia | West A Zone | 3rd | Third place (2007) |
| Ghana | West B Zone | 12th | Champions (1993, 1999, 2009) |
 Burkina Faso | West B Zone | 4th | Fourth place (2003) |
| Uganda | Central-East Zone | 1st | Debut |
 Tanzania | Central-East Zone | 1st | Debut |
 Central African Republic | Central Zone | 1st | Debut |
 Cameroon | Central Zone | 10th | Champions (1995) |
 Namibia | South Zone | 1st | Debut |
 Mozambique | South Zone | 1st | Debut |
Venues
| Nouakchott | |
|---|---|
| Stade Olympique | Stade Cheikha Ould Boïdiya |
| Capacity: 20,000 | Capacity: 8,200 |
 |
 |
| Nouadhibou | |
| Stade Municipal de Nouadhibou | |
| Capacity: 10,300 | |
Squads
Draw
The group stage draw was held on 25 January 2021, 11:00 AM WAT (UTC+1), at the Hilton Hotel in Cameroon.[8] The twelve teams were drawn into three groups of four teams. The hosts, Mauritania, were seeded in Group A and allocated to position A1, with Ghana and Burkina Faso, the only teams among the 12 who participated in the last edition of the CAN Total U20, drawn into B1 & C1 positions. All the other teams were in the same level and were distributed over the three groups.
| Hosts | Pot 1 | Pot 2 |
|---|---|---|
|
Match officials
A total of 16 referees and 18 assistant referees were appointed for the tournament.[9]
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Referees
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Assistant Referees
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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 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):[citation needed]
- 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 WAT (UTC+1).[10]
Group A
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cameroon |
3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 1 | +5 | 9 |
| 2 | Uganda |
3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 2 | +2 | 6 |
| 3 | Mauritania (H) |
3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| 4 | Mozambique |
3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 8 | −7 | 0 |
| Mauritania | 0–1 | Cameroon |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
|
| Mauritania | 2–0 | Mozambique |
|---|---|---|
|
Report |
Group B
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Burkina Faso |
3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 1 | +3 | 7 |
| 2 | Central African Republic |
3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 5 | −1 | 4[a] |
| 3 | Tunisia |
3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | +1 | 4[a] |
| 4 | Namibia |
3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 | −3 | 1 |
- Ranked on head-to-head points: Central African Republic 3pts, Tunisia 0pts.
| Namibia | 1–1 | Central African Republic |
|---|---|---|
|
Report |
|
| Burkina Faso | 3–1 | Central African Republic |
|---|---|---|
|
Report |
|
| Burkina Faso | 1–0 | Namibia |
|---|---|---|
|
Report |
Group C
- Ranked on head-to-head points: Gambia 3pts, Ghana 0pts.
Ranking of third-placed teams
Knockout stage
| Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Final | ||||||||
| 25 February 2021 – Stade Olympique | ||||||||||
| Cameroon | 1 (2) | |||||||||
| 1 March 2021 – Stade Olympique | ||||||||||
| Ghana (pen.) | 1 (4) | |||||||||
| Ghana | 1 | |||||||||
| 26 February 2021 – Stade Olympique | ||||||||||
| Gambia | 0 | |||||||||
| Central African Republic | 0 | |||||||||
| 6 March 2021 – Cheikha Ould Boïdiya | ||||||||||
| Gambia | 3 | |||||||||
| Ghana | 2 | |||||||||
| 25 February 2021 – Cheikha Ould Boïdiya | ||||||||||
| Uganda | 0 | |||||||||
| Burkina Faso | 0 (3) | |||||||||
| 1 March 2021 – Stade Olympique | ||||||||||
| Uganda (pen.) | 0 (5) | |||||||||
| Uganda | 4 | |||||||||
| 26 February 2021 – Stade Municipal | ||||||||||
| Tunisia | 1 | Third place | ||||||||
| Morocco | 0 (1) | |||||||||
| 5 March 2021 – Stade Olympique | ||||||||||
| Tunisia (pen.) | 0 (4) | |||||||||
| Gambia (pen.) | 0 (4) | |||||||||
| Tunisia | 0 (2) | |||||||||
Quarter finals
| Central African Republic | 0–3 | Gambia |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
|
Semi finals
Third place
Final
Winners
| 2021 Africa U-20 Cup of Nations |
|---|
 Ghana Fourth title |
Awards
The following awards were given at the conclusion of the tournament:
| Player of the Tournament |
|---|
| Abdul Fatawu Issahaku[11] |
| Top Scorer |
| Derrick Kakooza
(5 goals) |
| Best Goalkeeper |
| Ibrahim Danlad[11] |
| Best Coach |
| Morley Byekwaso ( Uganda) |
| CAF Fair Play Team |
| Uganda[11] |
Team of the Tournament
Source:[11]
Coach: Morley Byekwaso
| Goalkeeper | Defenders | Midfielders | Forwards |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ibrahim Danlad |
Flory Yangao Blondon Meyapya Lamin Jawara Aziz Kayondo |
El Mehdi Moubarik Lamarana Jallow Chiheb Labidi |
Abdul Fatawu Derrick Kakooza Joffrey Bazié |
Goalscorers
There have been 52 goals scored in 26 matches, for an average of 2 goals per match (as of 1 March 2021).
5 goals
3 goals
2 goals
Etienne Eto'o- Kevin Prince Milla
- Junior Sunday Jang
Modou Bojang
Abdul Fatawu- Daniel Afriyie
Silly Sanghare
El Mehdi Moubarik
Steven Sserwadda
1 goal
Joffrey Bazié- Pingwinde Beleme
- Kouamé Botué
- Éric Chardey
- Abdoulaye Yahaya
Alfred Gombe-Fei- Isaac Ngoma
- Marc Raphael Yapende
- Flory Yangao
- Alieu Barry
- Kajally Drammeh
- Wally Fofana
- Lamarana Jallow
- Joselpho Barnes
- Frank Boateng
- Oumar M'Bareck
- Mohamed Amine Essahel
- Ayoub Mouloua
Gianluca Lorenzoni
Penouua Amazing Kandjii
Novatus Dismas
Hassan Ayari- Adam Ben Lamin
- Chiheb Labidi
- Marc Lamti
- Richard Basangwa
Final standings
Per statistical convention in football, matches decided in extra time are counted as wins and losses, while matches decided by a penalty shoot-out are counted as draws.
| Pos. | Team | Pld | W | D | L | Pts | GF | GA | GD | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ghana |
6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 11 | 9 | 3 | +6 | |
| 2 | Uganda |
6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 10 | 8 | 5 | +3 | |
| 3 | Gambia |
6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 8 | 6 | 4 | +2 | |
| 4 | Tunisia |
6 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 6 | 4 | 6 | −2 | |
| Eliminated in the quarter-finals | ||||||||||
| 5 | Cameroon |
4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 7 | 2 | +5 | |
| 6 | Morocco |
4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 8 | 4 | 0 | +4 | |
| 7 | Burkina Faso |
4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 8 | 4 | 1 | +3 | |
| 8 | Central African Republic |
4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 8 | −4 | |
| Eliminated in group stage | ||||||||||
| 9 | Mauritania |
3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 0 | |
| 10 | Namibia |
3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 | −3 | |
| 11 | Mozambique |
3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 8 | −7 | |
| 12 | Tanzania |
3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 8 | −7 | |