2026 African U-20 Women's World Cup qualification

Summarize Timeline Fact Check

The draw was held on 12 December 2024 at the CAF headquarters in Cairo, Egypt.^[1][2]

• First Round: The 12 lowest-ranked teams, based on previous U-20 Women's World Cup qualifiers performance, will contest in this round. The six winners will advance to join the 26 top-ranked teams exempted from the first round.
• Second Round: The six first-round winners and 26 exempted teams will form 32 teams. These will battle it out for 16 spots in the third round.
• Third Round: The remaining 16 teams will compete in a knockout format to determine the eight teams advancing to the fourth round.
• Fourth Round: The final eight teams will play knockout ties, with the winners earning qualification to the 2026 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup.

A total of 38 (out of 54) CAF member associations registered teams for the competition. The teams were seeded based on their performance in the previous qualifying campaign. The four lowest-ranked teams, along with eight associations that did not participate in the previous edition, entered the first round, which featured six ties. The winners of these ties advanced to the second round.

Qualification rankings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Round reached
1	Ghana	6	6	0	0	21	2	+19	18	2024 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup
2	Cameroon	6	5	1	0	17	6	+11	16
3	Nigeria	6	5	1	0	11	2	+9	16
4	Morocco	6	4	1	1	12	2	+10	13
5	Ethiopia	6	4	1	1	12	4	+8	13	Fourth round
6	Egypt	6	3	2	1	28	6	+22	11
7	Senegal	6	2	2	2	5	8	−3	8
8	Burundi	6	1	2	3	5	7	−2	5
9	Tanzania	4	2	1	1	14	3	+11	7	Third round
10	Uganda	4	2	1	1	9	2	+7	7
11	Congo	4	2	1	1	6	8	−2	7
12	Kenya	4	2	0	2	12	7	+5	6
13	Guinea	4	2	0	2	10	5	+5	6
14	Eswatini	4	2	0	2	7	8	−1	6
15	DR Congo	4	1	2	1	5	5	0	5
16	Mali	4	1	0	3	2	8	−6	3
17	Algeria	2	1	0	1	2	2	0	3	Second round
18	South Africa	2	0	2	0	2	2	0	2
19	Zambia	2	0	2	0	2	2	0	2
20	Equatorial Guinea	2	0	1	1	2	5	−3	1
21	Burkina Faso	2	0	1	1	1	5	−4	1
22	Benin	2	0	1	1	0	2	−2	1
23	Namibia	2	0	0	2	1	5	−4	0
24	Botswana	2	0	0	2	1	6	−5	0
25	Guinea-Bissau	2	0	0	2	0	6	−6	0
26	Mozambique	2	0	0	2	0	8	−8	0
27	Angola	2	0	0	2	1	10	−9	0
28	Niger	2	0	0	2	0	10	−10	0
29	Djibouti	2	0	0	2	0	12	−12	0
30	São Tomé and Príncipe	2	0	0	2	0	18	−18	0
31	Gabon	2	0	0	2	0	6	−6	0	Forfeited the tie
31	Mauritius	2	0	0	2	0	6	−6	0
33	Togo	2	0	0	2	1	6	−5	0	First round
34	Chad	2	0	0	2	0	6	−6	0	Forfeited the tie
34	Libya	2	0	0	2	0	6	−6	0

The teams were seeded into pots based on geographical distribution, with UNAF, UNIFFAC and WAFU placed in one pot and CECAFA and COSAFA in the other. Ties were drawn between teams from the same pot to minimize travel costs.

First round

Pot 1	Pot 2
Tunisia  Gambia  Togo  Ivory Coast  Niger  Gabon	Rwanda  Djibouti  South Sudan  Central African Republic  Malawi  Zimbabwe

Second round

Pot 1 (CECAFA and COSAFA)		Pot 2 (UNAF, UNIFFAC and WAFU)
Eswatini  South Africa  Botswana  Angola  Burundi  Kenya	Zambia  Namibia  Mozambique  Ethiopia  Uganda  Tanzania	Egypt  Senegal  Mali  Benin  DR Congo	Algeria  Guinea  Guinea-Bissau  Congo  Equatorial Guinea

The following associations have previously fielded or currently field a women's under-20 team but chose not to participate:

The following associations have never fielded a women's under-20 team and did not participate:

Qualification ties were played on a home-and-away two-legged basis. If the aggregate score was tied after the second leg, the away goals rule would be applied, and if still tied, the penalty shoot-out (no extra time) would be used to determine the winner.^[3]

Round	Leg	Date
First round	First leg	9–11 May 2025
	Second leg	16–18 May 2025
Second round	First leg	19–21 September 2025
	Second leg	26–28 September 2025
Third round	First leg	6–8 February 2026
	Second leg	12–14 February 2026
Fourth round	First leg	1–3 May 2026
	Second leg	8–10 May 2026

The four winners of the fourth round would qualify for the 2026 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup.

	Second round						Third round						Fourth round
	Niger	0	0	0
	Cameroon	9	9	18
							Cameroon	5	0	5
							Botswana	0	1	1
	Botswana	2	1	3
	Mozambique	0	1	1
													Cameroon
													Tanzania
	Ethiopia	1	0	1
	Kenya	1	4	5
							Kenya	1	0	1 (1)
							Tanzania	0	1	1 (3)
	Tanzania	4	3	7
	Angola	0	0	0

	Second round						Third round						Fourth round
	Tunisia	0	0	0
	Ghana	2	2	4
							Ghana	2	1	3
							South Africa	2	0	2
	Eswatini	0	0	0
	South Africa	5	4	9
													Ghana
													Uganda
	Uganda	3	2	5
	Namibia	0	0	0
							Uganda	1	1	2
							Zambia	1	0	1
	Burundi	1	0	1
	Zambia	2	2	4

	Second round						Third round						Fourth round
	Ivory Coast	3	3	6
	Morocco	1	3	4
							Ivory Coast	2	0	2
							DR Congo	0	1	1
	Mali	1	—
	DR Congo	1	—	w/o
													Ivory Coast
													Benin
	Equatorial Guinea	1	0	1
	Egypt	0	3	3
							Egypt	0	0	0
							Benin	1	4	5
	Benin	5	4	9
	Guinea	1	3	4

	Second round						Third round						Fourth round
	Rwanda	0	0	0
	Nigeria	1	4	5
							Nigeria	1	2	3
							Senegal	0	1	1
	Senegal	2	4	6
	Algeria	0	0	0
													Nigeria
													Malawi
	Guinea-Bissau	—	—	w/o
	Congo	—	—
							Guinea-Bissau	1	1	2
							Malawi	1	5	6
	South Sudan	0	1	1
	Malawi	2	1	3

Summarize Timeline Top Qs Fact Check

Team 1	Agg. Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Gabon	w/o[b]	Niger	—	—
Togo	1–2	Tunisia	1–1	0–1
Gambia	0–6	Ivory Coast	0–1	0–5
Rwanda	2–1	Zimbabwe	2–1	0–0
South Sudan	13–0	Djibouti	5–0	8–0
Malawi	4–2	Central African Republic	3–1	1–1

Tunisia won 2–1 on aggregate.^[5]

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Ivory Coast won 6–0 on aggregate.^[6]

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Rwanda won 2–1 on aggregate.^[7]

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South Sudan won 13–0 on aggregate.^[8]

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Malawi won 4–2 on aggregate.^[9]

Summarize Timeline Top Qs Fact Check

Team 1	Agg. Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Niger	0–18	Cameroon	0–9	0–9
Botswana	3–1	Mozambique	2–0	1–1
Ethiopia	1–5	Kenya	1–1	0–4
Tanzania	7–0	Angola	4–0	3–0
Tunisia	0–4	Ghana	0–2	0–2
Eswatini	0–9	South Africa	0–5	0–4
Uganda	5–0	Namibia	3–0	2–0
Burundi	1–4	Zambia	1–2	0–2
Ivory Coast	6–4	Morocco	3–1	3–3
Mali	w/o	DR Congo	1–1	—[c]
Equatorial Guinea	1–3	Egypt	1–0	0–3
Benin	9–4	Guinea	5–1	4–3
Rwanda	0–5	Nigeria	0–1	0–4
Senegal	6–0	Algeria	2–0	4–0
Guinea-Bissau	w/o	Congo	—	—
South Sudan	1–3	Malawi	0–2	1–1

Cameroon won 18–0 on aggregate.^[10]

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Botswana won 3–1 on aggregate.

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Kenya won 5–1 on aggregate.^[11]

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Tanzania won 7–0 on aggregate.

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Ghana won 4–0 on aggregate.

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South Africa won 9–0 on aggregate.

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Uganda won 5–0 on aggregate.^[12]

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Zambia won 4–1 on aggregate.^[13]

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Ivory Coast won 6–4 on aggregate.^[14]

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DR Congo won on walkover and advanced to the third round after Mali withdrew prior to the second leg following a 1–1 draw in the first leg.^[15]

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Egypt won 3–1 on aggregate.^[16]

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Benin won 9–4 on aggregate.^[17]

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Nigeria won 5–0 on aggregate.^[18]

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Senegal won 6–0 on aggregate.^[19]

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Guinea-Bissau won on walkover and advanced to the third round after Congo withdrew prior to the first leg without giving any clarification on the reason.

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Malawi won 3–1 on aggregate.^[20]

Summarize Timeline Fact Check

Team 1	Agg. Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Cameroon	5–1	Botswana	5–0	0–1
Kenya	1–1 (1–3 p)	Tanzania	1–0	0–1
Ghana	3–2	South Africa	2–2	1–0
Uganda	2–1	Zambia	1–1	1–0
Ivory Coast	2–1	DR Congo	2–0	0–1
Egypt	0–5	Benin	0–1	0–4
Nigeria	3–1	Senegal	1–0	2–1
Guinea-Bissau	2–6	Malawi	1–1	1–5

Cameroon won 5–1 on aggregate.

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1–1 on aggregate. Tanzania won 3–1 on penalties.

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Ghana won 3–2 on aggregate.

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Uganda won 2–1 on aggregate.

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Ivory Coast won 2–1 on aggregate.

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Benin won 5–0 on aggregate.

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Nigeria won 3–1 on aggregate.

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Malawi won 6–2 on aggregate.