Senegal has been crowned the champions of the 2025 U20 WAFU A Qualifying Championship with a 2-0 victory over Sierra Leone in the final held at the Samuel Kanyon Doe Complex in Liberia on Saturday as both teams qualified for the U20 CAF Africa Cup of Nations ( AFCON), Sports 247 reports.
The two West Africa side secured two of the four tickets slot for the West Africa Football Union, WAFU region as Nigeria and seven other countries will now battle for remaining two tickets in WAFU B regional qualifying competition due to take place in Togo, in two weeks time.
Senegal made their intentions clear early in the match, taking the lead in the 13th minute when Cheikh Tidiane Thiam found the back of the net with a composed finish.
Just ten minutes later, Ibrahima Dieng doubled Senegal’s advantage with a stunning long-range effort, lobbing the Sierra Leonean goalkeeper from near the halfway line.
The early goals put Senegal firmly in control of the game, and despite some spirited attempts from Sierra Leone, they were unable to break down the Senegalese defense.
With this victory, Senegal continued their impressive run in youth football, adding another WAFU A title to their collection and successfully defended the title they won two years ago.
Meanwhile the Flying Eagles of Nigeria who recently called to camp recently under the watchful eyes of Coach Aliyu Zubair will face Cote d’Ivoire and Burkina Faso in Group B at the WAFU B U-20 Championship, after CAF conducted the draws last Thursday.
The Nigeria U20 side will have to negotiate their way out of the very tough group and qualify for the Semi Final before they can aspire to book a final passage which guarantees a CAF U20 AFCON place later in the year.
Host Togo is drawn in Group A along Niger Republic, Ghana and Benin Republic.
The two finalists in the competition will complete the West Africa slots for the CAF U20 Total Energies Africa Cup of Nations.
The competition will serve as the qualifier for the FIFA U20 U20 Men World Cup as only the Semi Finalists will participate in the World Cup.
