The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has confirmed that the upcoming Africa U17 Cup of Nations will feature only 12 finalists, ending speculation about an expansion to 16 teams, Soccernet.ng reports.
This announcement means that despite the Golden Eaglets’ 3-2 victory over Ghana in the third-place match of the WAFU B U17 Championship, they will not qualify for the AFCON finals.
Earlier reports suggested that Manu Garba’s team might qualify for the AFCON due to an expected increase in participants to 16, influenced by FIFA’s new rule.
However, the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) has now clarified that CAF’s Director of Competitions, Samson Adamu, confirmed the tournament will remain at 12 teams.
“The final tournament will still have 12 teams,” Adamu stated, as quoted by thenff.com.
There was widespread anticipation among African football enthusiasts that the 2025 Africa U17 Cup of Nations would expand the number of participating teams.
This expectation was driven by FIFA’s recent announcement at its Congress in Bangkok, where it allocated 10 slots to Africa for the 2025 FIFA U17 World Cup, which will be hosted by Qatar.
Starting next year, Qatar will host five consecutive FIFA U17 World Cup tournaments, each featuring 48 teams.
Despite this expanded global format, the Africa U17 Cup of Nations will retain its current structure with only 12 teams competing.
