The 2023 U-20 Africa Cup of Nations qualification was a men's under-20 football competition which decided the participating teams of the 2023 Africa U-20 Cup of Nations.
Players born 1 January 2003 or later were eligible to participate in the competition. A total of twelve teams qualified to play in the final tournament, including Egypt who qualified automatically as hosts.[1]
(Q): Automatically qualified for final tournament regardless of qualification results
(W): Withdrew
Schedule
The qualifying competition was split into regional competitions, with the teams entering the qualifying tournament of their zone. The schedule of each qualifying zone was as follows.
The 2022 UNAF U-20 Tournament, which also served as the qualifiers for the Africa U-20 Cup of Nations, took place between 18 and 24 October 2022 in Suez, Egypt.[6] The draw for the fixtures was held on 20 July 2022.[9][10] The four teams were placed in one group, with the winner qualifying for the final tournament.
The WAFU-UFOA Zone A qualifiers for the Africa U-20 Cup of Nations were hosted by Mauritania with the matches played between 28 August–11 September 2022.[4] The matches were played at Nouakchott, Mauritania.[11]
The WAFU-UFOA Zone B qualifiers for the Africa U-20 Cup of Nations were hosted by Niger with the matches played between 7–20 May 2022. The draw was announced on 15 April 2022.[12]
The UNIFFAC qualifiers for the Africa U-20 Cup of Nations were held in Congo between 8–14 December 2022.[8]
The seven participating teams were drawn into two groups of four and three teams, with Congo, DR Congo, the Central African Republic and São Tomé and Príncipe drawn in Group A; and Cameroon, Chad and Equatorial Guinea drawn into Group B. However, on 25 November, São Tomé and Príncipe withdrew from the competition, with Chad and Equatorial Guinea following suit.[note 1]
The four remaining teams were then placed in one group with the winners and the runners-up qualifying for the final tournament.[13][14]
The CECAFA qualifiers for the Africa U-20 Cup of Nations were hosted by Sudan between 28 October and 11 November 2022.[15][7] The draw for the fixtures was held on 11 October 2022.[16]
