2021 U-17 Africa Cup of Nations

2021 Africa U-17 Cup of Nations
  • كأس الأمم الأفريقية تحت 17 سنة 2021
  • Coupe d'Afrique des Nations U-17 2021
Tournament details
Host countryMorocco
DatesCancelled
Teams12 (from 1 confederation)
← 2019
2023 →

The 2021 U-17 Africa Cup of Nations, known for sponsorship purposes as the 2021 Total U-17 Africa Cup of Nations, was planned to be the 14th edition (19th if editions of the tournament without hosts are included) of the biennial African youth football tournament organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) for players aged 17 and below. Cameroon would have been the defending champions.

CAF announced Morocco as hosts of this edition in September 2018.[1] This would have been the first edition of the tournament to feature 12 teams in the group stages instead of 8 from previous editions.[2] The semi-finalists would have normally qualified for the 2021 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Peru as the CAF representatives. However, FIFA decided on 24 December 2020 to cancel that tournament due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[3]

This edition of the tournament was originally scheduled to take place between 13 and 31 March 2021. However, CAF announced on 8 March 2021 that the tournament had been cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic both in Morocco and in Africa at large.[4] Zambia offered to host the tournament at a later date to be agreed upon with CAF[5][6] which never materialized.

  1. ^ "Decisions of CAF Executive Commitee [sic] - 27 & 28 September 2018". CAFOnline.com. 29 September 2018. Archived from the original on 7 February 2023. Retrieved 23 September 2022. Total U-17 AFCON 2021 : Morocco
  2. ^ "CAF Holds Executive Committee Meeting ahead of CAN Total U-23 Final". CAFOnline.com. 21 November 2019. Archived from the original on 22 November 2019. Retrieved 21 November 2019.
  3. ^ "Update on FIFA Women's World Cup and men's youth competitions". FIFA. 24 December 2020. Retrieved 24 December 2020.
  4. ^ "2021 Total U17 Africa Cup of Nations cancelled". CAFOnline.com. 8 March 2021. Archived from the original on 9 March 2021. Retrieved 9 March 2021.
  5. ^ "Zambia offers to host cancelled 2021 U17 Africa Cup tournament". ZamFoot. 11 March 2021. Retrieved 19 March 2021.
  6. ^ "Zambia ready to host U-17 AFCON". FAZ. 11 March 2021. Archived from the original on 11 March 2021. Retrieved 19 March 2021.