International football competition
The 2015 African U-17 Championship was the 11th edition of the biennial international youth football tournament organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) for players aged 17 and below. The tournament took place in Niamey, Niger, and was originally scheduled to be held between 2 and 16 May. However, the date of the opening match was pushed forward to 15 February, with the tournament scheduled to conclude with the final on 1 March.
The semi-finalists of the tournament qualified for the 2015 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Chile. Mali won the tournament, and were joined by South Africa, Guinea, and Nigeria as CAF qualifiers for the 2015 FIFA U-17 World Cup.
Qualification.
The qualifiers were played between June and September 2014. At the end of the qualification phase, seven teams joined the hosts Niger.
Player eligibility.
During CAF Executive Committee meetings held on 21 and 22 September 2013, the CAF Medical Committee was instructed to continue the use of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans to determine the ages of players and consequently their eligibility to participate in the qualifying stages of the tournament. It was also directed to ensure the authenticity of the process as well as the identity of the players involved.
Match officials.
The referees were:
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Draw.
The draw for the final tournament was held on 21 December 2014, 11:00 , at the CAF Headquarters in Cairo, Egypt. Niger and Ivory Coast were seeded and placed into Groups A and B respectively.
Squads.
Each team can register a squad of 21 players (three of whom must be goalkeepers).
Group stage.
The group winners and runners-up advanced to the semi-finals and qualified for the 2015 FIFA U-17 World Cup.
The teams are ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss). If tied on points, tiebreakers are applied in the following order:
All times .
Knockout stage.
In the knockout stages, if a match is level at the end of normal playing time, kicks from the penalty mark are used to determine the winner (no extra time shall be played).
Goalscorers.
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References.
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