African football’s ruling body, Confederation of African Football has clarified that next year’s Africa U17 Cup of Nations will still have 12 finalists in attendance, despite Nigeria beating host nation Ghana in Tuesday’s third-place match of the WAFU B U17 Championship.
The Golden Eaglets went into the 2024 WAFU B championship as favourites to win the tournament because they were the defending champions of the competition.
Unfortunately, they suffered a 1-0 defeat in the semi-final stage of the competition against Ivory Coast. Hence, they had to settle for the losers’ final against the Starlets of Ghana who they beat 3-2.
Before the losers’ final, it wasn’t clear whether the Golden Eaglets would qualify for the 2025 under-17 AFCON which serves as a pathway for the 2025 under-17 World Cup in Qatar.
But a new statement by CAF says the Golden Eaglets of Nigeria have not qualified for the CAF tournament even though football fans were expecting a minimum of 16 teams at the tournament.
“The final tournament will still have 12 teams,” CAF’s Director of Competitions, Samson Adamu, told thenff.com.
Expectations had been high among African football lovers that the 2025 Africa U17 Cup of Nations would be expanded, following FIFA’s allocation, at its Congress in Bangkok, of 10 slots to the continent for the 2025 FIFA U17 World Cup that Qatar has been designated to host.
Qatar will host five consecutive FIFA U17 World Cup finals beginning next year, each having 48 teams in attendance.
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