History of the TotalEnergies CAF Under-20 Africa Cup of Nations
The TotalEnergies CAF Under-20 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), Egypt 2025 will take place from April 27-May 18 as the teams vie for a spot at the 2025 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Chile that gets under way in September.
Africa will have four teams at those finals, providing the 13 qualified teams with a giant carrot ahead of the pool stage draw that is scheduled for later this month.
To whet the appetite, here is a brief history of the TotalEnergies CAF Under-20 AFCON.
HOW IT STARTED
The TotalEnergies CAF Under-20 Africa Cup of Nations has a long history dating back 46 years but started as knockout competition to determine the qualifiers for what was then the 1979 FIFA World Youth Championships in Japan.
The first edition had 11 teams and was won by Algeria, who defeated Guinea on the away goals rule following a 4-4 draw on aggregate.
The first six editions were knockout competitions, before the first finals were played between six sides in Egypt in 1991. The hosts and Cote d’Ivoire contested the final, which was won 2-1 by the North African nation.
The finals have been staged every two years since then, and hosted all around the continent, including the likes of Mauritius (1993), Benin (2005), Zambia (2017) and Mauritania (2021).
PAST WINNERS
Seven-time winners Nigeria have been the most successful nation in the competition, though three of those have come since it was staged with a single host
Ghana and Egypt have four wins each, with no other nation managing to lift the trophy more than once after that.
Algeria (1979), Cameroon (1995), Morocco (1997), Angola (2001), Congo (2007), Zambia (2017), Mali (2019) and Senegal (2023) have all been previous winners.
MOST APPEARANCES AT THE FINALS
Nigeria and hosts Egypt will have each appeared at 19 tournaments when the 2025 edition is played.
Cameroon have been involved in 16 tournaments, one more than Ghana, who are fourth on the list. There will be two debutants in the field for 2025, with Sierra Leone and Kenya both appearing for the first time. Tanzania will be making their second appearances having first qualified in 2021.
SOME GREAT NAMES
Many current top players have passed through the TotalEnergies CAF U20 AFCON.
Premier League strikers Taiwo Awoniyi (Nottingham Forest & Nigeria) and Patson Daka (Leicester City & Zambia), as well as Ligue 1 midfielders Krépin Diatta (Monaco & Senegal) and Lamine Camara (Monaco & Senegal) all played in recent tournaments.
Going further back, Baffour Gyan (Ghana), Emad Moteab (Egypt), Yaya Tourè (Côte d'Ivoire) and Benni McCarthy (South Africa) were also players who passed through the tournament.