The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has announced Egypt as the new host nation for the 2025 U20 African Cup of Nations (AFCON). According to CAF, Cote d’Ivoire, the leading nation billed to host the event, pulled out in less than a month to the competition.
As revealed, the West African nation informed the governing body on Tuesday, March 25 about its decision to pull out of the bidding to host the U20 AFCON. CAF disclosed that theFédération Ivoirienne de Football (“FIF”) and the Government of Côte d’Ivoire reached out to the body citing unforeseen circumstances as the reason behind the pull-out.
Meanwhile, Egypt, despite hosting the tournament the last time, has shown interest in having the U20 AFCON on its home soil. Similarly, CAF said the tournament is rescheduled to kickstart by April 27, 2025.
However, the U20 team of Nigeria, the Flying Eagles will take on the new host, Morocco, and South Africa in Group B. Hence, the top two teams from each group will qualify for the knockout round.
Additionally, the best two third-placed teams will also progress to the next round. According to CAF rules, all semi-finalists in the tournament will automatically qualify for the 2025 U-20 World Cup in Chile.
On the flip side, the Nigerian men’s senior national team, the Super Eagles are on the verge of missing out on the 2026 FIFA World Cup. The Super Eagles are facing a daunting task to make it to the next World Cup due to a run of poor performances in the qualifying round.
Nigeria sits fourth in the six-team CAF Group C with seven points, six points behind high-flying South Africa and one behind Rwanda and Benin. The Super Eagles started the campaign winless in their first four matches; a 2-1 loss to Benin and three consecutive draws.
Thanks to the presence of the new head coach Eric Chelle, Nigeria sealed an inspiring 2-0 victory over Rwanda before another 1-1 stalemate with Zimbabwe. With four matches left, Nigeria can still qualify by topping the group or finishing second for a hopeful place in the playoffs.
