The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has modified some rules ahead of the U-17 TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON).
Algeria will host the competition in three cities of Algiers, Constantine and Annaba to run April 29th to May 19th, 2023.
According to a communication sent to all Member Associations on April 11th, a team will now be disqualified if four or more players are found ineligible after the Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) has been carried out.
Previously a team would be disqualified if only one player was found ineligible after the MRI test. The communication signed by the CAF General Secretary, Veron Mosengo-Omba said following a recommendation made by the Youth Organizing Committee, the CAF Executive Committee during a meeting held on April 5th made modifications to article 27 of the regulations of the U-17 AFCON.
According to the communication the modified article 27.4 states that “If after performing the eligibility test (MRI) for a participating team and four (4) or more of its players are found ineligible, the participating team will be disqualified.
Article 27.5 also states that “If after performing an MRI test for a participating team and one (1), two (2) of three (3) of its players are found ineligible, the said player(s) will not be allowed to participate in the competition. The concerned team will be allowed to participate in the competition but is not authorized to replace the ineligible player (s).”
For the first time, the U-17 AFCON 2023 will feature 12 nations with the hosts Algeria opening against debutants Somalia in a Group A match on April 29th at Nelson Mandela Stadium in Algiers.
A: Algeria, Senegal, Congo, Somalia
B: Nigeria, Zambia, Morocco, South Africa
C: Cameroon, Mali, South Sudan, Burkina Faso
