Hosts Morocco will be up against East African opponents for the first time at the Under-17 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) when they clash with Uganda in the opening game of the tournament on Sunday (kick-off 22h00 local time / GMT).
It will be a CECAFA double for the Moroccans on home soil as they face Tanzania in their final pool game too.
Uganda are making their second appearance at the finals in its current guise and will also face North African opposition for the first time, and on the second occasion, they will face the tournament hosts.
In their debut appearance in 2019, they met hosts Tanzania in their second game in Group A, a match they won 3-0 in Dar es Salaam.
Morocco becomes the fourth different nation that Uganda will face at the finals, they have previously met Angola, Nigeria and Tanzania.
The record of the host nation in their first game at the finals reads P14 W6 D1 L7.
The first five hosts between 1995 and 2003, Mali, Botswana, Guinea, Seychelles and Eswatini failed to win their opening game (D1 L4). In this time only Guinea, who drew with Cameroon in their opening game in 1999, avoided defeat.
Gambia were the first hosts to win their opening game, doing so with a 1-0 victory against Burkina Faso.
Thereafter, the next four tournament hosts, Togo in 2007, Algeria in 2009, Rwanda in 2011 and Morocco in 2013, won their opening game.
The biggest loss for a tournament host in their opening game was a 5-0 defeat for Seychelles in 2001 against Cameroon.
In four successive finals between 2005 and 2011, the hosts reached the final. In this run, only Gambia (2005) managed to win the tournament.
MOROCCO FACTS
· Morocco are making their fourth appearance at the finals along with 2013, 2019 and 2023.
· They will be hosting the tournament for a second time after 2013.
· Morocco will be aiming to become the second tournament host after Gambia in 2005 to win on home soil.
· In their debut tournament as hosts in 2013, Morocco ended fourth. In their next appearance in 2019 they were eliminated in the group stages.
· Morocco ended as runners-up at the last edition in Algeria in 2023, losing to Senegal in the final. That was their best showing at the finals.
· Morocco’s record in their opening group game at the finals reads P3 W2 D1 L0.
· Morocco have scored seven goals across their three opening games at the TotalEnergies CAF U-17 AFCON. They have conceded two goals.
· Overall, Morocco’s group stage record at the CAF U-17 AFCON finals reads P9 W4 D2 L3.
· Morocco’s three biggest wins at the finals have all been by a three-goal margin, two of which came in the 2013 group stages, a 4-1 win over Gabon in their opening game and a 3-0 win over Botswana in their second group game. They also managed a 3-0 win against hosts Algeria in the quarterfinals in 2023.
· Morocco are coached by former Atlas Lions International Nabil Baha, who was appointed at their helm in September 2024.
· Baha is a French-born Moroccan international who represented the Atlas Lions 20 times, making his international debut on the 12th of February 2003 in an international friendly against Senegal.
· Baha has been in charge of the Moroccan U-17 national team for 17 games, his record in these games reads W7 D6 L3. Baha’s team are undefeated in their last five games, winning three games and drawing two.
· Morocco’s highest scoring at a single final was Younes Bnou Marzouk who scored 4 goals when they hosted the tournament in 2013.
UGANDA FACTS
· Uganda’s only previous finals appearance was in 2019, when their neighbours Tanzania were hosts.
· At the 2019 finals Uganda began with a 1-0 loss to Angola in Group A, they then defeated hosts Tanzania 3-0 and drew with Nigeria 1-1 in their final group game. They exited the tournament in the group stage.
· All four of Uganda’s goals at the 2019 finals were scored by different players, they are yet to have a player score multiple goals for them at the finals.
· Uganda qualified for the second finals by winning the CECAFA regional play-off. They began with a 1-1 draw against Tanzania in their first group game then defeated Keny 5-0 in their second group game. They managed to overcome Somalia 4-1 in the Semi-finals and defeated Tanzania in Kampala on the 27th of December 2024 in the final winning 2-1.
· James Bogere top scored for Uganda in the qualifiers, he scored 7 goals netting two hat-tricks in their 5-0 group stage win over Kenya and in their 4-1 Semi-final win over Somalia. He also scored their game-winner in their 2-1 win in the final against Tanzania.
· The Uganda U-17 team are coached by Brian Ssenyondo who assumed the helm in November 2024, three weeks before they began their qualifying campaign against Tanzania.
-CAF
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