The 2015 Africa U-23 Cup of Nations was the 2nd edition of the Africa U-23 Cup of Nations, the quadrennial international age-restricted football championship organised by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) for the men's under-23 national teams of Africa. The tournament started on 28 November and finished on 12 December 2015. A total of eight teams are playing in the tournament. The tournament was initially scheduled to take place in the Democratic Republic of the Congo between 5–19 December 2015. However, CAF changed the hosts and requested Senegal to host the tournament instead, and the tournament dates were also changed. On 6 August 2015, the CAF Executive Committee decided to change the name of the tournament from the CAF U-23 Championship to the Africa U-23 Cup of Nations, similar to the senior's version, Africa Cup of Nations. Same as the previous edition, the tournament acted as the CAF qualifiers for the Olympic football tournament. The top three teams of the tournament qualified for the 2016 Summer Olympics men's football tournament in Brazil as the CAF representatives. Nigeria won the tournament with a 1–0 final win over Algeria. Both finalists and third-placed South Africa qualified for the Olympics. Qualification Senegal qualified automatically as hosts, while the remaining seven spots were determined by the qualifying rounds, which took place from April to August 2015. Qualified teams The following eight teams qualified for the final tournament. Defending champions Gabon failed to qualify after they lost to Mali. Venues The tournament was held in two venues. Squads Players born on or after 1 January 1993 were eligible to compete in the tournament. Each squad could contain a maximum of 21 players. Match officials A total of 10 referees and 13 assistant referees were selected. Referees Redouane Jiyed (Morocco) Juste Ephrem Zio (Burkina Faso) Joshua Bondo (Botswana) Mehdi Abid Charef (Algeria) Hudu Munyemana (Rwanda) Antoine Effa (Cameroon) Hamada Nampiandra (Madagascar) Bienvenu Sinko (Ivory Coast) Malang Diedhiou (Senegal) Youssef Essrayri (Tunisia) Assistant referees Jerson dos Santos (Angola) Arsenio Marengula (Mozambique) Eldrick Adelaide (Seychelles) Drissa Kamory Niare (Mali) Berhe O. Michael (Eritrea) Yahaya Mahamadou (Niger) Mark Sonko (Uganda) Samba Malik (Senegal) Elmoiz Ali Mohamed Ahmed (Sudan) Mahmoud Ahmed Abo el Regal (Egypt) Issa Yaya (Chad) Oliver Safari (DR Congo) Sidiki Sidibe (Guinea) Group stage The draw for the final tournament of the competition took place on 14 September 2015, 11:00 UTC+2, at the CAF headquarters in