The 2027 U-20 Africa Cup of Nations, known as the 2027 U20 AFCON or 2027 AFCON U20 for short and as the 2027 TotalEnergies U-20 Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship purposes, is the 19th edition (26th if editions of the tournament without hosts are included) of the biennial African international youth football tournament organized by the Confederation of African Football.
The four semi-finalists also will qualify as the CAF representatives for the 2027 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan.
South Africa are the defending champions.
Qualification
Player eligibility Players born 1 January 2007 or later are eligible to participate in the competition.
Qualified teams The following 12 teams qualified for the group stages:
Team Zone Date of qualificationAppearance Last appearance Previous best performance West B Zone 14th 2025 (1993, 1999, 2009, 2021) 14th 2025 (2005, 2011, 2015) 5th 2021 (2003) Central-East Zone 3rd 2017 Group stage (1997, 2017) 3rd 2025 Group stage (2021, 2025) South Zone 10th 2025 (2025) 3th 2023 (2021, 2023)
Group stage
Tiebreakers Teams will be ranked according to the three points for a win system (3 points for a win, 1 for a draw, 0 points for a loss), and if tied on points, the following tiebreaking criteria are applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings: Points in head-to-head matches among tied teams; Goal difference in head-to-head matches among tied teams; Goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams; If more than two teams were tied, and after applying all head-to-head criteria above, if two teams are still tied, all head-to-head criteria above are applied exclusively to these two teams; Goal difference in all group matches; Goals scored in all group matches; Drawing of lots.
Group A
Group B
Group C
Ranking of third-placed teams
Knockout stage In the knockout stage, penalty shoot-outs are used to decide the winner if necessary (Regulations Article 75).
Bracket
Quarter-finals
Semi-finals
Third place match
Final
Tournament rankings Ranking criteriaFor teams eliminated in the same knockout round, the following criteria are applied, in the order given, to determine the final rankings: Goal difference in round eliminated; Goals scored in round eliminated; If teams eliminated in the semi-finals or quarter-finals are tied, the above criteria are reapplied for the previous knockout round, with this process repeated once more should two semi-finalists remain tied; Points in group stage; Goal difference in group stage; Goals scored in group stage; Disciplinary points.
For teams eliminated in the group stage, the following criteria are applied, in the order given, to determine the final rankings Position in group; Points; Goal difference; Goals scored; Disciplinary points.
| colspan="11"| Eliminated in the quarter-finals
| colspan="11"| Eliminated in the group stage
See also 2027 U-17 Africa Cup of Nations
References