Morocco, Uganda get U-17 AFCON underway

03/30/2025 05:00 AM

The 2025 U-17 Africa Cup of Nations gets underway late on Sunday (early Monday for the CAT and EAT time zones) with host nation Morocco taking on Uganda in the tournament opener in Mohammedia.

This 20th edition of the U-17 AFCON features 16 teams competing first for 10 spots at the U-17 World Cup in Qatar later in the year, as well as the honour of winning the age-group continental championship.

The top two teams from each group (eight) will secure a World Cup berth (before going on to compete in the quarterfinals and onward), while four the third-placed teams will face off in an additional playoff round to determine the two additional qualifiers for Qatar.

The tournament gets going with Uganda hoping to upset the hosts in Group A – with Cranes coach Brian Ssenyondo acknowledging the difficulty of a draw which has put them up against the Atlas Lions, Tanzania and Zambia.

"I would say it is a group of death because all the teams are very hard but we started this journey with just one target, which is to qualify for the World Cup and we will give it our all to see to it that at the end of the matches in the group, we are through to the World Cup," he explained.

The second Group A clash pits Tanzania against Zambia on Monday afternoon, while the evening features action from Group B in Casablanca, as Burkina Faso take on Cameroon, and South Africa tackle Egypt.

"More than anything, we are hoping to go to the World Cup – number one and two in the group will go through, so we stand a good chance of really going through, if we can apply ourselves better, and it’s the ultimate [target] – we want to see ourselves in the World Cup," said South Africa Vela Khumalo.

AFCON U-17 fixtures – Monday 31 March

Times CAT

00:00: Morocco v Uganda
16:00: Tanzania v Zambia
19:00: Burkina Faso v Cameroon
22:00: South Africa v Egypt