2023 U-23 Africa Cup of Nations

The 2023 U-23 Africa Cup of Nations, known for sponsorship purposes as the TotalEnergies U-23 Africa Cup of Nations, was the 4th edition of the quadrennial African football tournament organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) for its male national teams consisting of players under 23 years of age. It was held in Morocco between 24 June and 8 July 2023.[2][3] It was the second time that Morocco hosted the tournament, as they were the inaugural hosts back in 2011.

2023 U-23 Africa Cup of Nations
كأس الأمم الأفريقية تحت 23 سنة 2023
Tournament details
Host countryMorocco
Dates24 June – 8 July
Teams8 (from 1 confederation)
Venue(s)2 (in 2 host cities)
Final positions
Champions Morocco (1st title)
Runners-up Egypt
Third place Mali
Fourth place Guinea
Tournament statistics
Matches played16
Goals scored39 (2.44 per match)
Top scorer(s)
(3 goals each)[1]
Best player(s)Egypt Ibrahim Adel[1]
Best goalkeeperEgypt Hamza Alaa[1]
Fair play award Guinea[1]

The finalists and third-place playoff winner of this edition of the tournament qualified for the 2024 Summer Olympics men's football tournament in Paris while the 4th-placed team will play the AFC–CAF playoff to decide the final Olympic slot.

Egypt were the defending champions, but failed to defend their title after a 2–1 loss to hosts Morocco in the final, although both were guaranteed qualification to the Olympic football tournament alongside Mali who won their third-place match against Guinea. With the win, Morocco repeated the feat achieved at the 2018 African Nations Championship by hosting and winning a tournament at the same time.

Qualification
Main article: 2023 U-23 Africa Cup of Nations qualification

Morocco qualified automatically as hosts, while the remaining 7 spots were determined by the qualifying rounds which took place on a home-and-away two-legged basis from 21 September 2022 to 28 March 2023.

Qualified teams

The following teams qualified for the group stage.

Team Date of qualification Appearance Last appearance Previous best performance
 Morocco (hosts)7 July 20222nd2011Runners-up (2011)
 Egypt　26 March 20234th2019Champions (2019)
 Congo27 March 20231stNoneDebut
 Gabon　28 March 20232nd2011Champions (2011)
 Ghana28 March 20232nd2019Fourth place (2019)
 Guinea　28 March 20231stNoneDebut
 Mali　28 March 20233rd2019Group stage (2015, 2019)
 Niger　28 March 20231stNoneDebut

Venues

The matches were contested at two venues; the Ibn Batouta Stadium in Tangier and the Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium in Rabat.

Tangier Rabat
Ibn Batouta Stadium Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium
Capacity: 65,000 Capacity: 53,000

Draw

The draw was held on 5 May 2023 at 17:00 CET (UTC+1) at the Mohammed VI Football Academy in Salé.[4] The 8 teams were drawn into two groups of four teams, with hosts Morocco seeded in Group A (position A1) and the defending champions Egypt seeded in Group B (position B1). The remaining 6 teams were allocated to two pots based on the results of the previous tournament edition and were drawn to the remaining positions.

Seeds Pot 1 Pot 2

Match officials

Referees

  • Ivory Coast Clement Franklin Kpan
  • Egypt Mahmoud Nagy
  • Gabon Pierre Ghislain Atcho
  • Morocco Jalal Jayed
  • Somalia Omar Abdulkadir Artan
  • South Africa Abongile Tom
  • Senegal Adalbert Diouf
  • Algeria Youcef Gamouh
  • Gabon Patrice Mebiame
  • The Gambia Lamin Jammeh
  • Libya Muhammad Elmabrouk

Assistant Referees

  • Kenya Stephen Yiembe
  • Liberia Joel Wonka Doe
  • Egypt Sami Halal
  • Republic of the Congo Styven Moutsassi
  • Morocco Abdessamad Abertoune
  • Tunisia Wael Hannachi
  • Algeria Adel Abane
  • Togo Jhonathan Ahonto Koffi
  • Madagascar Dimbiniaina Andriatianarivelo
  • Mauritania Youssef Mahmoud
  • Nigeria Igho Hope
  • Morocco Hamza Naciri

Video Assistant Referees

  • Mauritius Maria Rivet
  • Egypt Mohamed Hussien
  • Mauritania Dahane Beida
  • Eswatini Letticia Antonella Wiana
  • Algeria Mustapha Ghorbal
  • Tunisia Haytem Guirat
  • Kenya Peter Waweru
  • Morocco Adil Zourak

Group stage

The top two teams of each group advanced to the semi-finals.

Tiebreakers

Teams were ranked according to points; 3 for a win, 1 for a draw and none for a loss. If tied on points, the following tiebreaking criteria were applied in the order given to determine the rankings (Regulations Article 68):[5]

  1. Points in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
  2. Goal difference in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
  3. Goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
  4. If more than two teams were tied and after applying all head-to-head criteria above, a subset of teams were still tied, all head-to-head criteria above were reapplied exclusively to this subset of teams;
  5. Goal difference in all group matches;
  6. Goals scored in all group matches;
  7. Drawing of lots.

All times are local, CET (UTC+1).

Group A

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Morocco (H) 3 3 0 0 8 2 +6 9 Advance to knockout stage
2  Guinea 3 1 1 1 5 4 +1 4
3  Ghana 3 1 1 1 5 8 −3 4
4  Congo 3 0 0 3 3 7 −4 0
Source: Soccer24
Rules for classification: Group stage tiebreakers
(H) Hosts
Morocco 2–1 Guinea
Ezzalzouli 68' (pen.), 90+8' (pen.) Report Bah 45+2'
Referee: Omar Abdulkadir Artan (Somalia)
Ghana 3–2 Congo
 Report
  • R.T. Kokolo 90+3'
  • Y. Ngatse 90+4'
Referee: Mahmoud Nagi (Egypt)
Congo 1–3 Guinea
Y. Ngatse 40' Report
Referee: Clement Franklin Kpan (Ivory Coast)
Morocco 5–1 Ghana
 Report S. Adams 43'
Referee: Patrice Mebiame (Gabon)
Congo 0–1 Morocco
Report
Referee: Mahmoud Nagi (Egypt)
Guinea 1–1 Ghana
 Report
Referee: Muhammad Elmabrouk (Libya)

Group B

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Egypt 3 2 1 0 3 0 +3 7 Advance to knockout stage
2  Mali 3 2 0 1 5 2 +3 6
3  Niger 3 1 1 1 1 2 −1 4
4  Gabon 3 0 0 3 1 6 −5 0
Source: Soccer24
Rules for classification: Group stage tiebreakers
Egypt 0–0 Niger
Report
Referee: Adalbert Diouf (Senegal)
Mali 3–1 Gabon
 Report Ovono 3' (pen.)
Referee: Jalal Jayed (Morocco)
Egypt 1–0 Mali
Adel 10' Report
Referee: Lamin Jammeh (Gambia)
Gabon 0–1 Niger
Report Moumouni 60' (pen.)
Referee: Youcef Gamouh (Algeria)
Gabon 0–2 Egypt
Report
Referee: Omar Abdulkadir Artan (Somalia)
Niger 0–2 Mali
Report
Referee: Abongile Tom (South Africa)

Knockout stage

Bracket
 
Semi-finalsFinal
 
      
 
4 July – Rabat
 
 
 Morocco (p)2 (4)
 
8 July – Rabat
 
 Mali2 (3)
 
 Morocco (a.e.t.)2
 
4 July – Tangier
 
 Egypt1
 
 Egypt1
 
 
 Guinea0
 
Third-place match
 
 
7 July – Tangier
 
 
 Mali (p)0 (4)
 
 
 Guinea0 (3)

Semi-finals

The winners qualified for the 2024 Summer Olympics.

Morocco 2–2 (a.e.t.) Mali
 Report
Penalties
 4–3
Referee: Pierre Ghislain Atcho (Gabon)
Egypt 1–0 Guinea
Shehata 8' Report
Referee: Abongile Tom (South Africa)

Third-place match

The winner (Mali) joined the finalists in qualifying for the 2024 Summer Olympics and the loser (Guinea) will play in the AFC–CAF play-off.

Mali 0–0 Guinea
Report
Penalties
  • I. Maïga soccer ball with red X
  • Diambou soccer ball with check mark
  • Diallo soccer ball with check mark
  • Diomandé soccer ball with check mark
  • M.L. Bah soccer ball with check mark
 4–3
Referee: Youcef Gamouh (Algeria)

Final
Morocco 2–1 (a.e.t.) Egypt
 Report Saber 10'
Referee: Peter Waweru (Kenya)

Winners
 2023 U-23 Africa Cup of Nations champions 

Morocco
First title

Final ranking

As per statistical convention in football, matches decided in extra time are counted as wins and losses, while matches decided by penalty shoot-outs are counted as draws.

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Final result
1st place, gold medalist(s)  Morocco (H) 5 4 1 0 12 5 +7 13 Champions
2nd place, silver medalist(s)  Egypt 5 3 1 1 5 2 +3 10 Runners-up
3rd place, bronze medalist(s)  Mali 5 2 2 1 7 4 +3 8 Third place
4  Guinea 5 1 2 2 5 5 0 5 Fourth place
5  Niger 3 1 1 1 1 2 −1 4 Eliminated in
Group stage
6  Ghana 3 1 1 1 5 8 −3 4
7  Congo 3 0 0 3 3 7 −4 0
8  Gabon 3 0 0 3 1 6 −5 0
Source: CAF
(H) Hosts

Awards

The following awards were given at the conclusion of this edition of the tournament:

Top Scorer Best Player Best Goalkeeper Fair Play Award
Morocco Abde Ezzalzouli
(3 goals, 3 assists)[1]		 Egypt Ibrahim Adel[1] Egypt Hamza Alaa[1]  Guinea[1]

Team of the tournament

The team of the tournament was announced by the CAF after the final.[6]

Goalkeeper Defenders Midfielders Forwards
Egypt Hamza Alaa Mali Ibrahima Cisse
Mali Fodé Doucouré
Egypt Hossam Abdelmaguid
Morocco Zakaria El Ouahdi		 Mali Mamadou Sangare
Egypt Amar Hamdy
Morocco Ismael Saibari		 Egypt Ibrahim Adel
Egypt Osama Faisal
Morocco Abde Ezzalzouli


Goalscorers

There were 39 goals scored in 16 matches, for an average of 2.44 goals per match.

3 goals

2 goals

1 goal

1 own goal

  • Republic of the Congo Jacques Bowamba (against Guinea)

Qualified teams for the 2024 Summer Olympics

The following 3 teams qualified to represent Africa at the 2024 Summer Olympics men's football tournament.

Team Qualified on Previous appearances at the Summer Olympics
 Morocco　4 July 20237 (1964, 1972, 1984, 1992, 2000, 2004, 2012)
 Egypt4 July 202312 (1920, 1924, 1928, 1936, 1948, 1952, 1960, 1964, 1984, 1992, 2012, 2020)
 Mali7 July 20231 (2004)

References
  1. "Egypt captain Ibrahim Adel named TotalEnergies U-23 AFCON Best Player". CAFOnline. 9 July 2023. Retrieved 9 July 2023.
  2. Latrech, Oumaima (7 July 2022). "Morocco to Host U23 AFCON Tournament in 2023". Morocco World News. Retrieved 1 August 2022.
  3. "CAF unveils the host country of the AFCON U-23 2023". AfrikPage. 8 July 2022. Retrieved 1 August 2022.
  4. "Hosts Morocco get Ghana, Congo and Guinea at TotalEnergies U23 AFCON draw". CAFOnline.com. 5 May 2023. Retrieved 1 June 2023.
  5. "Regulations of the U-23 Africa Cup of Nations" (PDF). CAFOnline.com. 23 September 2019. Retrieved 5 May 2023.
  6. Confederation of African Football (CAF) [@CAF_Online] (9 July 2023). "4️⃣✖️🇪🇬 3️⃣✖️🇲🇦 3️⃣✖️🇲🇱 1️⃣✖️🇬🇳 Your #TotalEnergiesAFCONU23 team of the tournament is here🙌" (Tweet). Retrieved 8 August 2023 – via Twitter.

Official website

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