Nigeria’s Flying Eagles will be grouped with another set of opponents in the 2025 U-20 Africa Cup of Nations following the decision of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) to conduct a new draw.
The seven-time African champions had been drawn in Group B with Egypt, Morocco and South Africa before Cote d’Ivoire pulled out as hosts.
Egypt, who hosted the 2023 edition, stepped in as Cote d’Ivoire replacement, and a fresh draw will now be done.
“The final draw for the TotalEnergies CAF Under-20 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), Egypt 2025 will be conducted on Sunday, 13 April at 17:00 local time (15:00 GMT),” CAF announced on Saturday.
“The tournament will be staged from 27 April to 18 May, 2025, with Sunday’s draw LIVE from the Egyptian Football Association headquarters via ON Time channels and CAF TV.”
The 13 teams that have qualified for the tournament will be split into three pools, Group A with five teams, and Groups B and C with four, CAF explained.
The top two nations in each group advance to the quarter-finals, along with the two best third-placed sides.
Hosts Egypt will be in position A1 in the draw, Nigeria, who finished third at the tournament two years ago, in B1 and holders Senegal in C1, meaning these teams will not be in the same group.
Tunisia, Zambia and Central African Republic, who qualified for the last edition, will be in Pot 1 and drawn into one of the three groups.
The teams that did not qualify for the last edition, Morocco, debutants Sierra Leone, Ghana, Tanzania, Kenya, South Africa and DR Congo, will be in Pot 2. They will be placed in the remaining positions in the pools.
The four semi-finalists from the tournament will represent Africa at the 2025 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Chile.
