The Confederation of African Football, CAF, has confirmed the 16 countries that will compete at the 2026 Under-17 Africa Cup of Nations, AFCON, with Nigeria notably missing from the tournament for the second consecutive edition.
Nigeria’s absence follows their elimination in the WAFU Zone B qualifiers, where the Golden Eaglets suffered a 2-0 semi-final defeat to Ghana in September 2025, ending their hopes of reaching the continental stage.
The competition is scheduled to take place in Morocco from April 25 to May 15, 2026, and will also serve as Africa’s qualification route for the 2026 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Qatar. With the global tournament expanding to 48 teams, the top 10 finishers at the AFCON finals will secure qualification.
Algeria clinched the final spot after defeating Egypt 1-0 at the Martyrs of Benina Stadium, completing the list of qualified teams.
The 16 teams set to feature at the tournament are :
Algeria
Angola
Cameroon
Côte d’Ivoire
DR Congo
Egypt
Ethiopia
Ghana
Guinea-Bissau
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Mali
Morocco (hosts)
Mozambique
Senegal
South Africa
Tanzania, and Uganda.
Reports shows that Nigeria will not feature at the tournament for the second consecutive edition.
The Golden Eaglets suffered a 2-0 defeat to rivals Ghana in the semi-finals of the WAFU Zone B qualifiers in September 2025.
CAF’s qualification process is organized across six regional zones—UNAF, WAFU A, WAFU B, UNIFFAC, CECAFA, and COSAFA—with each region hosting its own tournament to determine representatives for the AFCON finals.
The qualification for U-17 AFCON works through a zonal system organised by CAF’s six recognized regional unions; North/UNAF; West A/WAFU A; West B/WAFU B; Central/UNIFFAC; Central-East/CECAFA; and South/COSAFA.
Each zone runs its own mini-tournament, typically featuring group stages followed by semi-finals or knockouts, depending on the number of participating teams, to determine the qualifiers.
Nigeria’s loss in the WAFU Zone B qualifiers semi-final dashed their hopes of advancing to the finals. X
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