{"id":93287,"date":"2026-04-09T07:21:39","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T05:21:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=93287"},"modified":"2026-04-09T07:21:39","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T05:21:39","slug":"tough-road-ahead-for-amajimbos-after-afcon-draw","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=93287","title":{"rendered":"Tough road ahead for Amajimbos after Afcon draw"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
The Amajimbos squad of 2025, featuring Emile Witbooi<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0and coached by Vela Khumalo, successfully progressed from Afcon to Qatar. Does the current generation have what it takes to follow in their footsteps? Photo: South African Football Association<\/strong><\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The final draw for the Confederation of African Football (Caf), u17 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon)<\/strong> was held on Wednesday in Egypt, unveiling a mouthwatering list of matches for the tournament, which takes place from 13 May to 2 June.<\/p>\n

The draw, hosted at the Caf headquarters in Cairo, featured leading players, among them Fiston Mayele<\/strong>, the Pyramids’<\/strong> forward who helped his team win the 2024\/25 Caf Champions League<\/strong> title by scoring in the second leg against Mamelodi Sundowns<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Aliou Dieng<\/strong>, the Malian footballer who plays for Al Ahly<\/strong> in Egypt, and Ahmed Belhadi<\/strong>, of Ceramica Cleopatra<\/strong>, also assisted with the ceremony.<\/p>\n

Group A includes the hosts, Morocco<\/strong>, who won the tournament for the first time in 2025, defeating Mali<\/strong> 4-2 on penalties after a goalless draw.<\/p>\n

A feature of the group is its fierce North African rivalries, with Tunisia<\/strong> and Egypt<\/strong> also in the four-team line-up. Ethiopia faces a tough task trying to get past those three.<\/p>\n

C\u00f4te d’Ivoire<\/strong>, winners of the title in 2013, which they won by beating Nigeria <\/strong>in the final, will face Cameroon<\/strong> in Group B. The Indomitable Lions<\/strong><\/em> are also former winners, lifting the trophy in 2003 and 2019. They’ll also take on Uganda<\/strong>\u00a0and the newcomers, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mali, last year’s runner-up, headlines Group C. They’ll tackle the Council of Southern Africa Football Associations (Cosafa)<\/strong> sides, Angola<\/strong> and Mozambique<\/strong>, with Tanzania completing the four-team line-up.<\/p>\n

South Africa<\/strong>, whose previous best finish was runner-up in 2015, is in Group D, perhaps the toughest of the lot.<\/p>\n

Amajimbos <\/strong><\/em>will face off against the 2023 champions, Senegal<\/strong>. They’ll also be up against Ghana<\/strong>, the first champions of the u17 Afcon in 1995, and the winners again in 1999. Algeria, the fourth team in the group, will represent North African hopes.<\/p>\n

There is plenty at stake in the group stage matches, with the eight teams that advance to the quarterfinals earning automatic qualification for the 2026 u17 FIFA World Cup<\/strong> in Qatar later this year.<\/p>\n

The third-place finishers will meet in two playoff matches, from which two teams will earn berths at the World Cup, thus bringing the final number of African qualifiers for Qatar to 10.<\/p>\n

Confederation of African Football (Caf), u17 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) Groups<\/strong><\/p>\n

Group A
\n<\/strong>Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Ethiopia<\/p>\n

Group B
\n<\/strong>C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire, Cameroon, Uganda, DR Congo,<\/p>\n

Group C
\n<\/strong>Mali, Angola, Tanzania, Mozambique<\/p>\n

Group D
\n<\/strong>Senegal, South Africa, Algeria, Ghana<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The final draw for the Confederation of African Football (Caf), u17 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) was held on Wednesday in Egypt, unveiling a mouthwatering list of matches for the tournament, which takes place from 13 May to 2 June. The draw, hosted at the Caf headquarters in Cairo, featured leading players, among them Fiston […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":86713,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-93287","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93287","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=93287"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93287\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/86713"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=93287"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=93287"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=93287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}