CAN U20 2021: a special edition in Mauritania
- © Courtesy of CAF
Text by: David Kalfa Follow
3 min
The 2021 Africa Cup of Nations Under-20 takes place from February 14 to March 6 in Mauritania.
This edition will be special since it will be the first to 12 teams but it will not qualify for a U20 World Cup canceled because of the Covid.
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From February 14 to March 6, Mauritania will host the first major continental football tournament in its history.
The 2021 Africa Cup of Nations under 20 (U20) will indeed take place in Nouadhibou and especially in Nouakchott.
The capital will host two groups.
For the first time in the history of the CAN U20, there will be 12 participating teams, against 8 previously.
They are divided into three pools of four teams, of which the first, second and two best thirds, will contest the quarter-finals.
The program is therefore attractive even if an event has tarnished the picture a little.
The semi-finalists of this competition generally qualify for the Under-20 World Cup.
But the International Football Federation (FIFA) has decided to cancel the 2021 World Cup in Indonesia, the Covid crisis requires.
A very open CAN U20
Result: this final phase will only be used to determine which country has the best young people, in this age category, on the continent.
An issue whose end result is far from predictable: none of the countries that have shone in the two previous editions, in 2017 in Zambia and in 2019 in Niger, is present in Mauritania [1].
Under these conditions, Cameroon, who won the African Under-17 Cup in 2019, are they favorites?
Not sure, so much the group of players present in Mauritania has nothing to do with the winner of the last CAN U17.
The young Cameroonians will have anyway the opportunity to show what they have in the stomach, in the opening match, against the young Mauritanians.
Backstage competition
This competition will also be important behind the scenes.
One month before the elections to the African Football Confederation (CAF), the candidates for a seat on the CAF Executive Committee, the FIFA Council, and above all for the presidency of CAF, are in full campaign.
For the President of the Mauritanian Federation, Ahmed Yahya, who wants to become the boss of African football, a successful CAN U20 would be an additional argument in view of the election scheduled for March 12 in Rabat.
[1] Mali, winner in 2019, sacred Zambia in 2017, Senegal, finalist in 2017 and 2019, Guinea, 3rd in 2017, Nigeria, 4th in 2019, and South Africa, 3rd in 2019 and 4th in 2017.
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