General presentation of U-20 African CUP of Nations “Mauritania 2021”
Mauritania will host on February 14th the 22nd edition of the U-20 African football Cup of nations. Twelve national teams will compete for the continental trophy during this major event of African football, which is hosted by Mauritania for the first time. It is a great honor and a precedent for our country, which has never hosted such a major continental competition.
On Saturday February 17th, 2019, the curtain fell on the 2019 U-20 African cup of nations. At the final of the championship, which resulted in Mali winning the trophy against Senegal, Niger passed the torch to Mauritania to host the 2021 tournament.
On the sidelines of the trophy presentation, FFRIM President Ahmed Ould Yahya received the CAF flag from the head of the governing body of African football, Ahmad Ahmad, and army Lieutenant colonel Djibrilla Hima Hamidou, president of the Nigerian Football Federation (FENIFOOT). It was a symbolic gesture that officially launches the countdown to the remaining time before the kick-off of the 22nd edition of the U-20 CAN in Mauritania. FFRIM President Ahmed Yahya expressed his joy by saying:
« My country will host the 22nd edition of the U-20 African cup of nations. It is true that we will organize this event for the first time but be assured that we will strive to live up to expectations by mobilizing all necessary means at the logistical and human levels to ensure the success of the competition. But above all, I would like to congratulate Niger for the good organization of this event by setting the bar very high. It is a challenge for us to have in Mauritania such a large public in stadiums and achieve a good organization of this event. I would like to reassure you that Mauritania will spare no efforts to respond to the confidence that the CAF has placed in our country by successfully organizing the 2021 U-20 African cup of Nations».
The selection of Mauritania
It was on 28thSeptember 2018 in Sharm el-Sheikh that the CAF Executive Committee decided that the 22nd edition of the 2021 Under-20 African Cup of Nations will be held in Mauritania.This will be the first time that our country organizes such an important event. Mauritania is rewarded for its progress in organizing and relaunching its football in recent years. Since 2014, the Mourabitouns have participated in two CHANs and one CAN in 2019. On the administrative level, Nouakchott hosted two high-level football summits, including FIFA’s executive committee meeting in February 2019. The Mauritanian football federation is internationally regarded as a success model in the continent.
From now on, starting from the Mauritanian edition, the U-20 African cup of nations will be played with 12 teams, unlike the previous editions. From each group, two teams qualify for the next round except for Mauritania, which qualifies automatically as a host country.
The cities of Nouadhibou (the Municipal Stadium) and Nouakchott ( Cheikh Ould Boidiya Stadium and the Olympic Stadium) will host the competition.
Countries that have organized the CAN U-20
The U-20 African cup of nations is a football championship created in 1979. It gathers each two years the best national African junior teams to compete for the prestigious continental trophy.
Egypt hosted the Under-20 African Cup of Nations, which took place in 1979 – 1981 – 1983 – 1985 – 1987 – 1989 and 1991; Mauritius 1993 , Nigeria 1995 ,Morocco 1997 , Ghana 1999 , Ethiopia 2001 , Burkina Faso 2003 , Benin 2005 , Congo 2007 ,Rwanda 2009 , Libya 2011 , Algeria 2013 ,Senegal 2015 ,Zambia 2017 ,Niger 2019 and finally Mauritania 2021.
The winners of the CAN U-20
In the first six editions of the Africa Cup of Nations U20, there were not, strictly speaking, tournaments but rather knockout matches in the form of a cup. Thus, in the first edition held in Egypt in 1979, Algeria won against Libya, Tunisia, and Ethiopia before beating Guinea in the final of the competition.
From 1991, the CAF (African Football Confederation) decided to change its competition system by adopting a qualifying formula with two or three qualifying rounds and a final phase with eight qualified countries that end up in an organizing country.
Here is the list of countries winners of the competition:
1981 Egypt
1983 Nigeria
1985 Nigeria
1987 Nigeria
1989 Nigeria
1991 Egypt
1993 Ghana
1995 Cameroon
1997 Morocco
1999 Ghana
2001 Angola
2003 Egypt
2005 Nigeria
2007 Congo Brazzaville
2009 Ghana
2011 Nigeria
2013 Egypt
2015 Nigeria
2017 Zambia
2019 Mali