The 2021 Africa U-20 Cup of Nations was the 16th edition of the Africa U-20 Cup of Nations (23rd edition if tournaments without hosts are included), the biennial international youth football tournament organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) for players aged 20 and below. In September 2018, it was decided that the tournament would be hosted by Mauritania. This will be the first edition in Africa U-20 Cup of Nations to have expanded to 12 teams instead of eight. The top four teams of the tournament would have normally qualified for the 2021 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Indonesia as the CAF representatives. However, FIFA decided to cancel the tournament on 24 December 2020 due to COVID-19 pandemic. The defending champions Mali failed to qualify. Ghana won their 4th title by defeating debutant Uganda in the Final. Qualification At the end of the qualification phase, eleven teams will join the hosts Mauritania. Player eligibility Players born 1 January 2001 or later are eligible to participate in the competition. Qualified teams The following twelve teams qualified for the final tournament. Note: All appearance statistics count only those since the introduction of final tournament in 1991. Venues Squads Draw The draw of the final tournament was held on 25 January 2021, 11:00 WAT (UTC+1), at the Hilton Hotel in Cameroon. The twelve teams were drawn into three groups of four teams. The hosts Mauritania were seeded in Group A and allocated to position A1, with Ghana and Burkina Faso, the only teams among the 12 who participated in the last edition of the CAN Total U20 drawn into B1 & C1 positions. All the other teams were in the same level and were distributed over the three groups. Match officials A total of 16 referees and 18 assistant referees were appointed for the tournament. Referees Abdelaziz Bouh (Mauritania) Jean Ouattara (Burkina Faso) Blaise Yuven Ngwa (Cameroon) Samuel Uwikunda (Rwanda) Ibrahim Kalilou Traoré (Ivory Coast) Messie Jessie Nkounkou Mvoutou (Congo) Celso Alvacao (Mozambique) Mutaz Ibrahim Al-Shalmani (Libya) Pierre Ghislain Atcho (Gabon) Mahmood Ali Mahmood Ismail (Sudan) Mohamed Ali Moussa (Niger) Souleiman Ahmed Djama (Djibouti) Adalbert Diouf (Senegal) Mahamat Alhadji Allaou (Chad) Akhona Makalima (South Africa) Mehrez Melki (Tunisia) Assistant Referees Hamedine Diba (Mauritania) Meriem Chedad (Mauritania) Samuel Kuria (Kenya) Abbes Akram Zerhouni (Algeria) Michael Conteh (Sierra Leone) Modibo Samake (Mali) Tigle Gizaw Belachew (Ethiopia) Thomas Kusosa (Zimbabwe) Rodrigue Menye Mpele (Cameroon)