| Tourney Name: | African Youth Championship |
| Year: | 1979 |
| Dates: | 6 August – 25 February 1978 |
| Num Teams: | 11 |
| Confederations: | 1 |
| Count: | 1 |
| Matches: | 10 |
| Goals: | 24 |
| Prevseason: | 1977 |
| Nextseason: | 1981 |
The 1979 African Youth Championship was the second edition of the biennial qualification tournament for the FIFA World Youth Championship for African nations and the inaugural edition under the African Youth Championship title.
Algeria and Guinea qualified for the 1979 FIFA World Youth Championship in Japan by reaching the final, although the former won their inaugural title via the away goals rule against the latter with the match ending 4–4 on aggregate.
The following teams entered this edition of the tournament and played at least a match:
Malawi, Madagascar and Senegal all withdrew, leading to the scrapping of the preliminary round and the advancement of Kenya, Mauritius and Gambia to the first round.
Uganda, Mali, Togo, Ivory Coast and Gambia withdrew, leading Mauritius, Morocco, Guinea, Cameroon and Nigeria to advance to the second round.
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The two best performing teams qualified for the 1979 FIFA World Youth Championship.