2019 Africa U-23 Cup of Nations

The 2019 Africa U-23 Cup of Nations was the third edition of the Africa U-23 Cup of Nations, the quadrennial international age-restricted football championship organised by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) for the men's under-23 national teams of Africa. It was hosted by Egypt between 8 and 22 November 2019.

2019 Africa U-23 Cup of Nations
كأس الأمم الأفريقية تحت 23 سنة 2019
Tournament details
Host countryEgypt
Dates8–22 November 2019[1]
Teams8 (from 1 confederation)
Venue(s)2 (in 1 host city)
Final positions
Champions Egypt (1st title)
Runners-up Ivory Coast
Third place South Africa
Fourth place Ghana
Tournament statistics
Matches played16
Goals scored35 (2.19 per match)
Top scorer(s) Mostafa Mohamed
(4 goals)[2]
Best player(s) Ramadan Sobhi[2]
Best goalkeeper Mohamed Sobhy[2]
Fair play award Egypt[2]

The tournament was initially scheduled to take place in Zambia, but they withdrew from hosting in July 2017.[3] Egypt was announced as the new host nation of the tournament by CAF on 23 September 2017.[4]

Same as previous editions, the tournament served as African qualifying for the Olympic football tournament, with the top three teams of the tournament qualifying for the 2020 Summer Olympic men's football tournament in Japan.

Nigeria were the defending champions, but were eliminated in the group stage. Egypt defeated Ivory Coast 2–1 at extra time in the final, winning the title for the first time in their history, while South Africa came third after beating Ghana 6–5 on penalties after the match ended 2–2 in their third-place play-off match.[5][6]

Qualification
Main article: 2019 Africa U-23 Cup of Nations qualification

Egypt qualified automatically as hosts, while the remaining seven spots were determined by the qualifying rounds.

Qualified teams

The following eight teams qualified for the final tournament.

Team Appearance Previous best performance
 Egypt (hosts)3rdThird place (2011)
 Cameroon1stDebut
 Ghana1stDebut
 Ivory Coast2ndGroup stage (2011)
 Mali2ndGroup stage (2015)
 Nigeria3rdChampions (2015)
 South Africa3rdThird place (2015)
 Zambia2ndGroup stage (2015)

Venues

The tournament used two venues, Cairo International Stadium and Al Salam Stadium, both in Cairo.

Cairo
Cairo International Stadium Al Salam Stadium
Capacity: 75,000 Capacity: 30,000

Squads
Further information: 2019 Africa U-23 Cup of Nations squads

Each team had to register a squad of 21 players. Only players born on or after 1 January 1997 were eligible to compete in the tournament (Regulations Article 45).[7]

Draw

The draw of the final tournament was held on 2 October 2019, 19:00 CAT (UTC+2), at the Haramlek Palace of Montaza Complex in Alexandria.[8][9][10] The eight teams were drawn into two groups of four teams. The hosts Egypt were seeded in Group A (position A1), and the defending champions Nigeria were seeded in Group B (position B1). The remaining teams were allocated to two pots based on the results of the 2015 Africa U-23 Cup of Nations, and were drawn to the remaining positions in their group.[11][12]

Seeds Pot 1 Pot 2

Match officials

On 31 October 2019, CAF released the list of 12 referees and 13 assistant referees selected to oversee matches. This is the first time CAF appointed female match officials for the tournament.[13]

Regional Federation Referees Assistant Referees
UNAF Lahlou Benbraham
Mohamed Maarouf
Slim Belkhouas		 Youssef El Bosaty
Fathia Jermoumi
Khalil Hassani
WAFU-UFOA Louis Houngnandande
Boubou Traoré
Daouda Guèye		 Judicael Sanou
Abdul Aziz Bollel Jawo
Firmino Bassafim
Abdoul Aziz Moctar Saley
Samuel Pwadutakam
UNIFFAC Pierre Atcho Abelmiro dos Reis
CECAFA Georges Gatogato
Souleiman Ahmed Djama
Salima Mukansanga		 Dick Okello
COSAFA Ali Mohamed Adelaide
Andofetra Rakotojaona		 Ivanildo Meirelles Lopes
James Emile
Diana Chikotesha

Group stage

The top two teams of each group advanced to the semi-finals.

Tiebreakers

Teams were 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 were applied in the order given, to determine the rankings (Regulations Article 68):[7]

  1. Points in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
  2. Goal difference in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
  3. Goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
  4. 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;
  5. Goal difference in all group matches;
  6. Goals scored in all group matches;
  7. Drawing of lots.

All times are local, CAT (UTC+2).

Group A
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Egypt (H) 3 3 0 0 6 3 +3 9 Advance to knockout stage
2  Ghana 3 1 1 1 5 4 +1 4
3  Cameroon 3 1 1 1 3 3 0 4
4  Mali 3 0 0 3 0 4 −4 0
Source: CAF
Rules for classification: Group stage tiebreakers
(H) Host.
Egypt 1–0 Mali
 Report (Soccerway)
Referee: Georges Gatogato (Burundi)
Cameroon 1–1 Ghana
 Report (Soccerway)
  • Mohammed  87'
Mali 0–1 Cameroon
Report (Soccerway)
Referee: Ali Mohamed Adelaide (Comoros)
Ghana 2–3 Egypt
 Report (Soccerway)
Referee: Daouda Guèye (Senegal)
Egypt 2–1 Cameroon
 Report (Soccerway)
Referee: Andofetra Rakotojaona (Madagascar)
Mali 0–2 Ghana
Report (Soccerway)
Al Salam Stadium, Cairo
Referee: Pierre Atcho (Gabon)

Group B
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Ivory Coast 3 2 0 1 2 1 +1 6 Advance to knockout stage
2  South Africa 3 1 2 0 1 0 +1 5
3  Nigeria 3 1 1 1 3 2 +1 4
4  Zambia 3 0 1 2 1 4 −3 1
Source: CAF
Rules for classification: Group stage tiebreakers
Nigeria 0–1 Ivory Coast
Report (Soccerway)
Al Salam Stadium, Cairo
Referee: Mohamed Maarouf (Egypt)
South Africa 0–0 Zambia
Report (Soccerway)
Al Salam Stadium, Cairo
Referee: Salima Mukansanga (Rwanda)
Ivory Coast 0–1 South Africa
Report (Soccerway)
Al Salam Stadium, Cairo
Referee: Souleiman Ahmed Djama (Djibouti)
Zambia 1–3 Nigeria
 Report (Soccerway)
Al Salam Stadium, Cairo
Referee: Slim Belkhouas (Tunisia)
Nigeria 0–0 South Africa
Report (Soccerway)
Al Salam Stadium, Cairo
Referee: Boubou Traoré (Mali)
Ivory Coast 1–0 Zambia
 Report (Soccerway)
Referee: Louis Houngnandande (Benin)

Knockout stage

In the knockout stage, extra time and penalty shoot-out were used to decide the winner if necessary, except for the third place match where a direct penalty shoot-out, without any extra time, would be used to decide the winner if necessary.

Bracket
 
Semi-finalsFinal
 
      
 
19 November – Cairo International
 
 
 Egypt3
 
22 November – Cairo International
 
 South Africa0
 
 Egypt (a.e.t.)2
 
19 November – Cairo International
 
 Ivory Coast1
 
 Ivory Coast (p)2 (3)
 
 
 Ghana2 (2)
 
Third place match
 
 
22 November – Cairo International
 
 
 South Africa (p)2 (6)
 
 
 Ghana2 (5)

Semi-finals

Winners qualified for the 2020 Summer Olympics.

Ivory Coast 2–2 (a.e.t.) Ghana
  • Dao  13', 85'
 Report (Soccerway)
Penalties
 3–2
Egypt 3–0 South Africa
 Report (Soccerway)
Referee: Daouda Guèye (Senegal)

Third place match

Winner qualified for the 2020 Summer Olympics.

South Africa 2–2 Ghana
  • Mohammed  15' (o.g.)
  • Mahlatsi  62'
 Report (Soccerway)
Penalties
 6–5
Referee: Boubou Traoré (Mali)

Final
Egypt 2–1 (a.e.t.) Ivory Coast
 Report (Soccerway)
  • Doumbia  89'
Referee: Andofetra Rakotojaona (Madagascar)

Winners
 2019 Africa U-23 Cup of Nations Champions 

Egypt
First title

Awards

The following awards were given at the conclusion of the tournament:

Top Scorer[2] Best Player[2] Best Goalkeeper[2] Fair Play Award[2]
Mostafa Mohamed
(4 goals)		 Ramadan Sobhi Mohamed Sobhy  Egypt


Team of the tournament

The team of the tournament was announced by CAF after the final.[2]

Coach: Shawky Gharieb

Goalkeeper Defenders Midfielders Forwards
Mohamed Sobhy Repo Malepe
Kouadio-Yves Dabila
Ahmed Ramadan
Silas Gnaka		 Aboubakar Keita
Amar Hamdy
Evans Mensah		 Ramadan Sobhi
Mostafa Mohamed
Youssouf Dao

Qualified teams for Summer Olympics

The following three teams from CAF qualify for the 2020 Summer Olympic men's football tournament.

Team Qualified on Previous appearances in Summer Olympics1
 Ivory Coast19 November 2019[14]1 (2008)
 Egypt19 November 2019[14]11 (1920, 1924, 1928, 1936, 1948, 1952, 1960, 1964, 1984, 1992, 2012)
 South Africa22 November 2019[15]2 (2000, 2016)
1 Bold indicates champions for that year.

Goalscorers

There were 35 goals scored in 16 matches, for an average of 2.19 goals per match.

4 goals

3 goals

2 goals

1 goal

1 own goal

  • Habib Mohammed (against South Africa)

References
  1. "Decisions of CAF Executive Commitee [sic] - 27 & 28 September 2018". CAF. 29 September 2018.
  2. "Sobhy named Total Man of the competition as Egypt dominates". CAF. 22 November 2019. Retrieved 23 November 2019.
  3. "Zambia withdraws from hosting the 2019 U-23 Africa Cup edition". Lusaka Times. 26 July 2017.
  4. "DECISIONS OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE - 23 SEPTEMBER 2017". www.cafonline.com. 23 September 2017. Retrieved 24 September 2017.
  5. "Penalty heartbreak for Ghana as South Africa qualifies to Tokyo". CAF. 22 November 2019. Retrieved 23 November 2019.
  6. "Sobhy guides hosts Egypt to historic U-23 title". CAF. 22 November 2019. Retrieved 23 November 2019.
  7. "Regulations for the U-23 Africa Cup of Nations" (PDF). Confederation of African Football.
  8. "Iconic Montaza Complex hosts U-23 AFCON draw on 3 October". CAF. 17 September 2019.
  9. "U-23 AFCON Final Tournament draw brought forward to 2 October". CAF. 26 September 2019.
  10. "Draw for Total U-23 Africa Cup of Nations takes place in Alexandria, Egypt". CAF. 2 October 2019.
  11. "Stage set for U-23 AFCON draw in Alexandria". CAF. 2 October 2019.
  12. "Procedures of the draw of the Final Tournament of the 3rd Edition of U-23 Africa Cup of Nations, Egypt 2019" (PDF). CAF.
  13. "Female referee trio named for Total U-23 AFCON Egypt 2019". CAF. 31 October 2019. Retrieved 3 November 2019.
  14. "Côte d'Ivoire and Egypt earn Tokyo 2020 berths". FIFA.com. 19 November 2019.
  15. "Pharaohs take the trophy as Bafana Bafana book Africa's last Olympic ticket". FIFA.com. 22 November 2019.
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