| Tourney Name: | African U-17 Women's World Cup qualification |
| Year: | 2020 |
| Dates: | (remaining matches cancelled) |
| Num Teams: | 20 |
| Confederations: | 1 |
| Matches: | 23 |
| Goals: | 101 |
| Prevseason: | 2018 |
| Nextseason: | 2022 |
The 2020 African U-17 Women's World Cup Qualifying Tournament was the 7th edition of the African U-17 Women's World Cup Qualifying Tournament, the biennial international youth football competition organised by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) to determine which women's under-17 national teams from Africa qualify for the FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup. Players born on or after 1 January 2003 were eligible to compete in the tournament.
Three teams would have qualified from this tournament for the 2021 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup (originally 2020 but postponed due to COVID-19 pandemic) in India as the CAF representatives.[1] [2] However, FIFA announced on 17 November 2020 that this edition of the World Cup would be cancelled.[3] As a result, all remaining qualifying matches were cancelled.[4]
A total of 20 (out of 54) CAF member national teams entered the qualifying rounds. The draw was held on 10 May 2020 at the CAF headquarters in Cairo, Egypt.[5] [6] [7] [8]
Qualification ties were played on a home-and-away two-legged basis. If the aggregate score was tied after the second leg, the away goals rule was applied, and if still tied, the penalty shoot-out (no extra time) was used to determine the winner.
The schedule of the qualifying rounds was as follows.[7] [9]
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all second round matches, originally scheduled for 1–3 and 8–10 May 2020, had been postponed until further notice.[10] The CAF announced the new dates in July 2020.[11] However, in October 2020, CAF announced that all third round matches, rescheduled for 30 October – 1 November and 20–22 November 2020, were again postponed due to travel restrictions across parts of Africa as a result of COVID-19.[12] The CAF sent a letter to the member associations on 21 December 2020 confirming the cancellation of the qualifiers.[4]
| Round | Leg | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Preliminary round | First leg | 10–12 January 2020 |
| Second leg | 24–26 January 2020 | |
| First round | First leg | 28 February–1 March 2020 |
| Second leg | 13–15 March 2020 | |
| Second round | First leg | 1–3 May 2020, postponed to 30 October – 1 November 2020, eventually cancelled |
| Second leg | 15–17 May 2020, postponed to 20–22 November 2020, eventually cancelled |
The three winners of the second round would have qualified for the 2021 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup.[6] [7]
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Zambia won on walkover after Namibia withdrew, citing financial constraints.[13] ----Botswana won 7–0 on aggregate.----Morocco won 14–0 on aggregate.----Tanzania won 6–1 on aggregate.----Uganda won 5–1 on aggregate.----São Tomé and Príncipe won on walkover after DR Congo did not appear for the first leg.[14] [15] ----Liberia won 9–0 on aggregate.----Guinea won 8–3 on aggregate.
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South Africa won 3–2 on aggregate.----Morocco won 4–0 on aggregate and awarded as a 3–0 after Botswana did not appear for the second leg due to concerns of the COVID-19 pandemic.[16] ----Uganda won 6–2 on aggregate.----Cameroon won 10–0 on aggregate.----Ghana won 10–0 on aggregate.----Nigeria won 11–1 on aggregate.
Winners would have qualified for 2021 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup.
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