Nigeria’s Under-20 national football team will battle it out with rivals South Africa and Morocco in the group phase of this year’s Africa U-20 Cup of Nations, scheduled for Cote d’Ivoire from April 26 to May 18.
At the draw conducted inside the CAF headquarters in Egypt on Thursday, hosts Cote d’Ivoire are grouped alongside DR Congo, Ghana, Tanzania and the yet-to-emerge representative team of Central Africa zone, in a five-team group A.
Also, defending champions Senegal are in group C, which also has Zambia and two debutants Kenya and Sierra Leone.
The two top-placed teams in each group, alongside the best two third-placed finishers in the three groups, will advance to the championship’s quarter finals.
“There is no doubt that the toughest group is the group B that has Nigeria, Egypt, South Africa and Morocco,” said former Malian player Adama Coulibaly, who was an assistant at the draw on Wednesday.
The Flying Eagles had defeated host nation Egypt 1-0 in a group phase match at the last edition of the competition. Nigeria, seven-time champions of the U-20 continental tournament, finished third in Egypt two years ago.
GROUP A: Cote d’Ivoire, UNNIFAC, DR Congo, Ghana, Tanzania
GROUP B: Nigeria, Egypt, South Africa, Morocco
GROUP C: Senegal, Zambia, Kenya, Sierra Leone
