2021 CECAFA U-23 Challenge Cup

2021 CECAFA U-23 Challenge Cup
Tournament details
Host country	Ethiopia
Dates	17–30 July 2021
Teams	9 (from 1 sub-confederation)
Venue(s)	1 (in 1 host city)
Final positions
Champions	Tanzania
Runners-up	Burundi
Third place	South Sudan
Fourth place	Kenya
Tournament statistics
Matches played	13
Goals scored	24 (1.85 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Ali Suleiman Ibrahim; (3 goals)
	← 2019 2023 →

The 2021 CECAFA U-23 Challenge Cup was 41st edition of the annual CECAFA Cup, an international football competition consisting of the national U-23 teams of member nations of the Council for East and Central Africa Football Associations (CECAFA).

This year's tournament was reserved for U23 players but teams were allowed to field up to three players over 23.

It took place in Ethiopia from 17 July to 30 July 2021.^[2]^[3]^[4]^[5]

Uganda were the defending having won title in 2019.^[6] The Democratic Republic of the Congo participated as an invited team.^[7]

Participants

The FIFA World Ranking of participating Men's national football team as of 27 May 2021.^[8]

Country	Appearance	Previous best performance	FIFA ranking 27 May 2021
Burundi	23rd	Runner-Up (1990, 2013)	142
DR Congo	Debut (Invited)	None	94
Djibouti	13th	Group Stages	183
Eritrea	13th	Runner-Up (2019)	203
Ethiopia (Host)	34th	Champions (1987, 2001, 2004, 2005)	140
Kenya	37th	Champions (1995)	102
South Sudan	5th	Quarter-finals	169
Tanzania	62nd	Champions (1995, 2010)	137
Uganda	61st	Champions (1973, 1976, 1977, 1989, 1990, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2003, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2015)	84

Venue

All matches are played at Bahir Dar International Stadium located in Bahir Dar, Ethiopia.

Bahir Dar	Bahir Dar
Bahir Dar International Stadium
Capacity: 60,000

Match officials

Referees

Ramadhan Kayoko (Tanzania)
Thierry Nkurunziza (Burundi)
Dickens Mimisa Nyagrowa (Kenya)
Ronald Madanda (Uganda)
Yannick Malala Kabanga (DR Congo)
Saddam Houssein Mansour (Djibouti)
Teklu Mogos Tsegay (Eritrea)
Ring Malong (South Sudan)
Haileyesus Bazezew Belete (Ethiopia)

Assistant Referees

Kassim Mpanga (Tanzania)
Thierry Kakunze (Burundi)
Stephen Yiembe Eliezah (Kenya)
Ronald Katenya (Uganda)
Rachid Wais (Djibouti)
Eyobel Michael Ghebru (Eritrea)
Gasim Madir Dehiya (South Sudan)
Fasika Biru Yehualashet (Ethiopia

Draw

The draw ceremony of the tournament took place on 13 July 2021 15:00 local time in Addis Ababa. Nine teams were divided into 3 groups. The top finisher in each group and the best second-placed finisher will qualify for the Semi-finals.^[9]

Groupings

Group A	Group B	Group C
Uganda Tanzania DR Congo	Burundi Ethiopia Eritrea	Kenya South Sudan Djibouti

Group stage

Tiebreakers

Teams are ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss), and if tied on points, the following tiebreaking criteria are applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings (Regulations Article 9.3)

Points in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
Goal difference in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
Goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
If more than two teams are tied, and after applying all head-to-head criteria above, a subset of teams are still tied, all head-to-head criteria above are reapplied exclusively to this subset of teams;
Goal difference in all group matches;
Goals scored in all group matches;
Penalty shoot-out if only two teams are tied and they met in the last round of the group;
Disciplinary points (yellow card = 1 point, red card as a result of two yellow cards = 3 points, direct red card = 3 points, yellow card followed by direct red card = 4 points);
Drawing of lots.

All matches will be held at Bahir Dar
Time listed are UTC+3:00

Key to colour in group tables
	The top finisher in each group and the best second-placed finisher will qualify for the Semi-finals

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Tanzania	2	1	1	0	2	1	+1	4	Advanced to Semi-finals
2	Uganda	2	0	2	0	1	1	0	2
3	DR Congo	2	0	1	1	0	1	−1	1

Source: Soccerway
Rules for classification: Group stage tiebreakers

18 July 2021

13:00

Uganda	0–0	DR Congo
	Report

Bahir Dar International Stadium, Bahir Dar

Referee: Teklu Mogos Tsegay (Eritrea)

21 July 2021

16:00

Tanzania	1–0	DR Congo
Lusajo 66'	Report

Bahir Dar International Stadium, Bahir Dar

Referee: Haileyesus Bazezew Belete (Ethiopia)

24 July 2021

16:00

Uganda	1–1	Tanzania
Mukwala 40'	Report	Raphael 31' (pen.)

Bahir Dar International Stadium, Bahir Dar

Referee: Saddam Houssein Mansour (Djibouti)

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Burundi	2	1	1	0	4	1	+3	4	Advanced to Semi-finals
2	Ethiopia (H)	2	0	2	0	4	4	0	2
3	Eritrea	2	0	1	1	3	6	−3	1

Source: Soccerway
Rules for classification: Group stage tiebreakers
(H) Hosts

17 July 2021

16:00

Ethiopia	3–3	Eritrea
Solomo 10' Nassir 41' (pen.), 56'	Report	Ibrahim 38', 63', 72'

Bahir Dar International Stadium, Bahir Dar

Referee: Ronald Madanda (Uganda)

20 July 2021

16:00

Burundi	3–0	Eritrea
Nsihimirimana 16' Rukundo 53' Hakizimana 81'	Report

Bahir Dar International Stadium, Bahir Dar

Referee: Ring Malong (South Sudan)

23 July 2021

16:00

Ethiopia	1–1	Burundi
Gugesa 44'	Report	Hakzimana 66'

Bahir Dar International Stadium, Bahir Dar

Referee: Dickens Mimisa Nyagrowa (Kenya)

Group C

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Kenya	2	2	0	5	0	+5	6	Advance to Semi-finals
2	South Sudan	2	1	1	2	2	0	3	Qualified as a Best Runner up
3	Djibouti	2	0	2	0	5	−5	0

Source: Soccerway
Rules for classification: Group stage tiebreakers

18 July 2021

16:00

Djibouti	0–3	Kenya
	Report	Collins 11' Otieno 63' Ochieng 88'

Bahir Dar International Stadium, Bahir Dar

Referee: Yannick Malala Kabanga (DR Congo)

21 July 2021

13:00

South Sudan	0–2	Kenya
	Report	Otieno 51' Omalla 79'

Bahir Dar International Stadium, Bahir Dar

Referee: Thierry Nkurunziza (Burundi)

24 July 2021

13:00

Djibouti	0–2	South Sudan
	Report	Aluk 87' Kornelio 90+5' (pen.)

Bahir Dar International Stadium, Bahir Dar

Referee: Ramadhan Kayoko (Tanzania)

Knockout stage

In the knockout stage, extra-time and a penalty shoot-out will be used to decide the winner if necessary.

Bracket

Semi-finals		Final

27 July – Bahir Dar

Tanzania	1
		30 July – Bahir Dar
South Sudan	0
		Tanzania (pen.)	0 (6)
27 July – Bahir Dar
		Burundi	0 (5)
Burundi (pen.)	0 (4)

Kenya	0 (2)
		Third place match

		29 July– Bahir Dar

		South Sudan	1

		Kenya	0

Semi-finals

27 July 2021

11:45

Tanzania	1–0	South Sudan
Naftal 65'	Report

Bahir Dar International Stadium, Bahir Dar

Referee: Haileyesus Bazezew Belete (Ethiopia)

27 July 2021

14:00

Burundi	0–0	Kenya
	Report
Penalties
	4–2

Bahir Dar International Stadium, Bahir Dar

Referee: Ronald Madanda (Uganda)

Third place match

29 July 2021

11:45

South Sudan	1–0	Kenya
Gumanock 78'	Report

Bahir Dar International Stadium, Bahir Dar

Referee: Teklu Mogos Tsegay (Eritrea)

Final

30 July 2021

14:00

Tanzania	0–0	Burundi
	Report
Penalties
	6–5

Bahir Dar International Stadium, Bahir Dar

Referee: Saddam Houssein Mansour (Djibouti)

Statistics

Goalscorers

There were 23 goals scored in 13 matches, for an average of 1.77 goals per match.

4 goals

Ali Suleiman Ibrahim

2 goals

1 goal

References

^ "Eritrea's Suleiman Ibrahim celebrates CECAFA U-23 Challenge Cup top scorers Award". CECAFA. Retrieved 12 August 2021.
^ "Host for CECAFA Senior Challenge Cup Named". The Sports Nation. 12 March 2021. Retrieved 20 June 2021.
^ "CECAFA Senior Challenge Cup 2021:Uganda names Provisional Squad-FUFA". Federation of Uganda Football Association. 16 June 2021. Retrieved 20 June 2021.
^ "CECAFA Cup 2021". ZA Soccerway. Retrieved 20 June 2021.
^ "CECAFA to allow three over age players for U-23 Challenge Cup in Ethiopia". Cecafa Online. 18 June 2021. Retrieved 20 June 2021.
^ "Uganda claimed champion of CECAFA Cup 2019". ZA Soccerway. 19 December 2019. Retrieved 20 June 2021.
^ "2021 CECAFA U-23 Challenge Cup: DR Congo invited as guest country". Kawowo Sports. 15 June 2021. Retrieved 7 July 2021.
^ "FIFA International Men's Teams Rankings". FIFA.com. 27 May 2021. Retrieved 12 June 2021.
^ "CECAFA U-23 draw set". Cecafaonline. 13 July 2021. Retrieved 16 July 2021.

[top_scorers_award-1] "Eritrea's Suleiman Ibrahim celebrates CECAFA U-23 Challenge Cup top scorers Award". CECAFA. Retrieved 12 August 2021.

[2] "Host for CECAFA Senior Challenge Cup Named". The Sports Nation. 12 March 2021. Retrieved 20 June 2021.

[3] "CECAFA Senior Challenge Cup 2021:Uganda names Provisional Squad-FUFA". Federation of Uganda Football Association. 16 June 2021. Retrieved 20 June 2021.

[4] "CECAFA Cup 2021". ZA Soccerway. Retrieved 20 June 2021.

[5] "CECAFA to allow three over age players for U-23 Challenge Cup in Ethiopia". Cecafa Online. 18 June 2021. Retrieved 20 June 2021.

[6] "Uganda claimed champion of CECAFA Cup 2019". ZA Soccerway. 19 December 2019. Retrieved 20 June 2021.

[7] "2021 CECAFA U-23 Challenge Cup: DR Congo invited as guest country". Kawowo Sports. 15 June 2021. Retrieved 7 July 2021.

[8] "FIFA International Men's Teams Rankings". FIFA.com. 27 May 2021. Retrieved 12 June 2021.

[9] "CECAFA U-23 draw set". Cecafaonline. 13 July 2021. Retrieved 16 July 2021.

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v t e CECAFA Cup
Council for East and Central Africa Football Associations
Tournaments	Uganda 1973 Tanzania 1974 Zambia 1975 Zanzibar 1976 Somalia 1977 Malawi 1978 Kenya 1979 Sudan 1980 Tanzania 1981 Uganda 1982 Kenya 1983 Uganda 1984 Zimbabwe 1985 Ethiopia 1987 Malawi 1988 Kenya 1989 Zanzibar 1990 Uganda 1991 Tanzania 1992 Kenya 1994 Uganda 1995 Sudan 1996 Rwanda 1999 Uganda 2000 Rwanda 2001 Tanzania 2002 Sudan 2003 Ethiopia 2004 Rwanda 2005 Ethiopia 2006 Tanzania 2007 Uganda 2008 Kenya 2009 Tanzania 2010 Tanzania 2011 Uganda 2012 Kenya 2013 ~~Ethiopia 2014~~ Ethiopia 2015 ~~Kenya 2016~~ Kenya 2017 ~~Kenya 2018~~ Uganda 2019 Ethiopia 2021
Finals	1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1994 1995 1996 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 ~~2014~~ 2015 ~~2016~~ 2017 ~~2018~~ 2019 2021

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