2011 CAF U-23 Championship

2011 CAF U-23 Championship
بطولة إفريقيا تحت 23 سنة لكرة القدم 2011
Tournament details
Host country Morocco Morocco
Dates 26 November – 10 December
Teams 8 (from 1 confederation)
Venue(s) 2 (in 2 host cities)
Final positions
Champions  Gabon (1st title)
Runners-up  Morocco
Third place  Egypt
Fourth place  Senegal
Tournament statistics
Matches played 16
Goals scored 35 (2.19 per match)
Top scorer(s) Morocco Abdelaziz Barrada
Nigeria Raheem Lawal
(3 goals)

The 2011 CAF U-23 Championship was the first edition of the football tournament for players under 23 years. It was originally scheduled to be hosted by Egypt from November 26 to December 10, 2011. However, less than two months prior to the start of the tournament, Egyptian authorities decided against hosting the competition because of security concerns.[1] On October 13, 2011, Morocco was chosen as the replacement to host the tournament.[2]

The tournament also doubles up as the qualifiers for the 2012 Summer Olympics. The top 3 placed teams qualified automatically for the 2012 Summer Olympics football tournament, while the 4th best placed team qualify for a play-off with an AFC counterpart.[3]

Qualified teams

For more details on this topic, see 2011 CAF U-23 Championship qualification.

The Confederation of African Football chose to create a tournament and qualifying phase to decide which associations could represent Africa at the 2012 Olympic Games. Of CAF's 53 association nations, 39 agreed to participate in the qualifiers for the tournament.

To qualify for the tournament, participating nations had to overcome three two-legged qualifying stages.

Qualified teams:

Venues

Marrakech
Locations of the 2011 CAF U-23 Championship venues
Tangier
Stade de Marrakech Stade de Tanger
Capacity: 45,000 Capacity: 45,000

Draw

The draw for the tournament was held on 24 September 2011 during the CAF Executive Committee meeting in Cairo, Egypt.[4]

Match officials

The following referees were chosen for the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations.[5]

Referees Linesmen

Cameroon Néant Alioum
The Gambia Bakary Gassama
Kenya Sylvester Kirwa
Madagascar Hamada Nampiandraza
Mauritania Ali Lemghaifry
Morocco Bouchaïb El Ahrach
Tunisia Slim Jedidi
Zambia Janny Sikazwe
Reserve
Ghana Joseph Lamptey
Guinea Aboubacar Mario Bangoura

Burundi Jean-Claude Birumushahu
Cameroon Moussa Yanoussa
Republic of the Congo Richard Bouende-Malonga
Eritrea Angesom Ogbamariam
Kenya Aden Marwa Range
Malawi Moffat Champiti
Morocco Redouane Achik
Rwanda Felicien Kabanda
Seychelles Jason Damoo
Tunisia Anouar Hmila
Reserve
Djibouti Yacin Hassan Egueh

Squads

Group Stage

All times given as local time (UTC)

If two or more teams tied in their points, the following tie-breaker is used:[6]

  1. Points in the matches between the concerned teams,
  2. Goal difference in the matches between the concerned teams,
  3. Number of goals in the matches between the concerned teams,
  4. Goal difference in all group matches,
  5. Number of goals in all group matches,
  6. Fair Play point (number of yellow and red cards),
  7. Drawing of lots.

Group A

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Status
 Senegal 320132+16Advanced to the semi-finals
 Morocco 320121+16
 Nigeria 310254+13Eliminated and missed out on the 2012 Summer Olympics
 Algeria 310225–33

26 November 2011
17:30
Nigeria  0 – 1  Morocco
Report Barrada  28' (pen.)
Stade de Tanger
Referee: Sylvester Kirwa (Kenya)

26 November 2011
20:30
Algeria  1 – 0  Senegal
Benaldjia  77' Report
Stade de Tanger
Referee: Néant Alioum (Cameroon)

29 November 2011
17:30
Morocco  1 – 0  Algeria
Tighadouini  59' Report
Stade de Tanger
Referee: Janny Sikazwe (Zambia)

29 November 2011
21:30
Senegal  2 – 1  Nigeria
Mbodj  34'
Sané  42'
Report Uchechi  49'
Stade de Tanger
Referee: Slim Jedidi (Tunisia)

2 December 2011
19:00
Nigeria  4 – 1  Algeria
Lawal  47', 75', 85'
Uchechi  87'
Bounedjah  42'
Stade de Marrakech
Referee: Bakary Papa Gassama (Gambia)

2 December 2011
19:00
Morocco  0 – 1  Senegal
Report Wade  31'
Stade de Tanger
Referee: Hamada Nampiandraza (Madagascar)

Group B

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Status
 Egypt 320131+26Advanced to the semi-finals
 Gabon 311143+14
 Ivory Coast 311134–14Eliminated and miss out on the 2012 Summer Olympics
 South Africa 302124–22

27 November 2011
17:30
Egypt  1 – 0  Gabon
Magdi  50' Report
Stade de Marrakech
Referee: Bakary Papa Gassama (Gambia)

27 November 2011
20:30
South Africa  1 – 1  Ivory Coast
Bhengu  21' Report Griffiths  81'
Stade de Marrakech
Referee: Bouchaïb El Ahrach (Morocco)

30 November 2011
17:30
Gabon  1 – 1  South Africa
Lengoualama  80' Report Masango  40'
Stade de Marrakech
Referee: Ali Ould Lemghaifry (Mauritania)

30 November 2011
20:30
Ivory Coast  1 – 0  Egypt
Koné  82' Report
Stade de Marrakech
Referee: Hamada Nampiandraza (Madagascar)

3 December 2011
19:00
Egypt  2 – 0  South Africa
El Nenny  46'
Mohsen  63'
Report
Stade de Marrakech
Referee: Janny Sikazwe (Zambia)

3 December 2011
19:00
Gabon  3 – 1  Ivory Coast
Ndong Mba  46', 49' (pen.)
Yacouya  78'
Traoré  30'
Stade de Tanger
Referee: Slim Jedidi (Tunisia)

Knockout stage

All times given as local time (UTC+1)

Semi finals Final
6 December
  Senegal  0  
  Gabon (a.e.t.)  1  
 
10 December
      Gabon  2
    Morocco  1
Third place play-off
7 December 10 December
  Egypt  2   Senegal  0
  Morocco  3     Egypt  2

Semi-finals

6 December 2011
19:00
Senegal  0 – 1 (a.e.t.)  Gabon
Report Poko  119'
Stade de Tanger
Referee: Janny Sikazwe (Zambia)

7 December 2011
19:00
Egypt  2 – 3  Morocco
Salah  36'
Shroyda  82'
Report Barrada  1', 9'
Mokhtar  66'
Stade de Marrakech
Referee: Néant Alioum (Cameroon)

Third place play-off

10 December 2011
14:30
Senegal  0 – 2  Egypt
Report Shroyda  32'
Gomaa  68'
Stade de Marrakech
Referee: Slim Jedidi (Tunisia)

Final

10 December 2011
17:30
Gabon  2 – 1  Morocco
Obiang  33'
Nono  40'
Report Mokhtar  21'
Stade de Marrakech
Attendance: 15,000
Referee: Hamada Nampiandraza (Madagascar)


 2011 CAF U-23 Championship Winners 

Gabon
First title

Best eleven

The team of the tournament with substitutes:[7]

Goalscorers

3 goals
2 goals

1 goal

Criticisms

Some have questioned the need for the tournament and believe that the CAF-organised Under-23 football tournament, the 2011 All-Africa Games' football tournament should have been used as a qualifying tournament. The increase in number of national U-23 fixtures caused some domestic league schedules to be revised and some league games took place with weakened teams.[8]

There has been criticism from fans towards clubs who have not allowed their players to participate in the qualifying stages as the tournament is not featured on the FIFA Calendar whilst the Olympics tournament is. In effect this means that African nations can call on European-based players for the Olympic tournament who were not able to participate in qualifying due to club commitments.[9]

Qualified for the 2012 Summer Olympics

Inter-continental play-off

See also

References

  1. Egypt denied from staging Olympic qualifiers; FilGoal.com, October 10, 2011.
  2. Morocco to host Olympic qualifying tournament; BBC, October 13, 2011.
  3. "Egypt hosting Olympic qualifier". FIFA. Retrieved 23 August 2011.
  4. "Egypt to host CAF U-23 Championship serving as 2012 London Olympic qualifiers". cafonline.com (Confederation of African Football). 22 August 2011.
  5. "Referees". CAF Online. Confederation of African Football. Retrieved 2011.
  6. "Regulations of the African U-23 Championship, Morocco 2011" (PDF). CAF. Retrieved 30 November 2011. (see art. 35.6)
  7. "Best eleven CAF U-23 African Championship 2011". CAF Online. Confederation of African Football. 10 December 2011. Retrieved 14 December 2011.
  8. "Who is fooling who?". Botswana Gazete. January 26, 2011. Retrieved 10 April 2011.
  9. "Ghana's U-23 soccer team transit through Nairobi". MichezofAfrika.com. 7 April 2011. Retrieved 10 April 2011.

External links

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