MATCH FACTS: Zambia look to book knockout spot at TotalEnergies CAF U17 Africa Cup of Nations, Morocco 2025

Zambia and Uganda will hope to seal a place in the quarter-finals of the TotalEnergies CAF U17 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), Morocco 2025 when they meet in their final Group A game at the Larbi Zaouli Stadium in Casablanca on Sunday (kick-off 20:00 local time / GMT).

Zambia are second in the pool on goal-difference from hosts Morocco with four points from two games, while Uganda are third with three points.

The top two teams in each pool advance to the knockout rounds, and the 2025 FIFA Under-17 World Cup in Qatar, while the sides that finish third in the four pools will play-off for the two remaining spots. 

Neither Zambia nor Uganda can finish lower than third, no matter the result on Sunday.   

This will be the first meeting between Uganda and Zambia at the TotalEnergies CAF U17 AFCON.  

Uganda will qualify for the knockout stage with a win. Zambia will progress to the knockout stage with a draw.

Uganda’s only other game against a COSAFA member nation ended in a 1-0 loss against Angola in 2019 in their opening group game.

For Zambia, they are facing East African opposition for a second time their only other meeting was against Tanzania in their opening game at the current finals, a 4-1 win in their opening game.

UGANDA FACTS
·      Should Uganda win and progress to the 2025 FIFA U17 World Cup it will be their first qualification for the tournament.

·      Uganda their opening game against hosts Morocco 5-0, but managed to bounce back and win their last game 3-0 against Tanzania.

·      Their win over Tanzania was Uganda’s joint biggest win at the finals. Both their 3-0 triumphs have been against Tanzania in 2019 and this year.

·      Uganda have now won their second group game at both their finals appearances, both were against Tanzania and ended in 3-0 wins.

·      Uganda, in their only other third group game at the finals, drew 1-1 with Nigeria in 2019.

·      Should Uganda win they would have won back to back games at the finals for the first time.

·      Should Uganda avoid defeat they would have not lost in successive games for a second time. They also did so in 2019 when defeating Tanzania and drawing with Nigeria on matchday two and three.

·      Both of Uganda’s clean-sheets have been kept against Tanzania, in 2019 and the current finals.

·      All of Uganda’s six goals at the finals have been scored by different players, no Ugandan player has as yet scored multiple goals at the finals.

·      Uganda had nine shots on target in their win against Tanzania, the most they have had in a single game in five games at the  finals.

·      Uganda goalkeeper Adrian Mukwanaga made five saves against Tanzania in their win 3-0 win, the most saves by a Tanzanian goalkeeper in a single game at the finals since Jack Komakech made 11 in their final group match in 2019 against Nigeria. The game ended 1-1.

·      Uganda’s Richard Okello had a game high 74 touches in their win over Tanzania.

ZAMBIA FACTS
·      A draw would be sufficient to see Zambia progress to the quarter-finals for the first time. In their two previous tournament appearances in 2015 and 2023, Zambia exited at the group stage.

·      Should Zambia progress to the quarter-finals they will have qualified for the FIFA U-17 World Cup for the first time.

·      Zambia won their opening game against Tanzania 4-1 and then drew their second game 0-0 against hosts Morocco.

·      Zambia have never previously gone through their first two games at the finals undefeated this is the first time they have done so.

·      Should they avoid defeat Zambia will go through three group games at the finals undefeated for the first time.

·      Zambia are currently three games at the final without a loss, starting with a 2-1 win in their final group game in 2023 (W2 D1).

·      In their 0-0 draw against Morocco it was the first time Zambia had failed to score in their second group game, in 2015 they won 2-1 against Niger and in 2023 they lost 3-2 to South Africa.

·      Their 0-0 draw against Morocco was the first time that Zambia had been involved in a goalless draw in eight games at the finals.

·      Zambia managed to keep a clean-sheet at the finals for the first time in what was their 8th game at the finals in their 0-0 draw against Morocco. 

·      With their draw against Morocco it means that Zambia have never lost to a host nation at the tournament in two games against tournament hosts, previously in 2015 they defeated then hosts Niger 2-1 (W1 D1).

·      Victory for Zambia will see them win two games at a single finals for the first time in 2015 and 2023 they won one game at each tournament.

·      Zambia’s record in their final group game at the finals reads P2 W1 L1.

·      In their final group games previously Zambia lost to Nigeria 3-1 in 2015 and defeated Morocco 2-1 in 2023. In 2015 they needed to defeat Nigeria to progress and in 2023 when they faced Morocco they were already eliminated, while Morocco had already progressed to the last 8.