2018 WAFU/FOX U-20 Tournament

The 2018 WAFU/FOX U-20 Tournament was the first edition of the international U-20 men's football event for teams under the West African Football Union. The competition will be hosted by Liberia in April to May 2018 in two match venues. The organizers of the tournament, which is sponsored by FOX Sports, said it will run from April 24, to May 6, 2018 in Monrovia and will feature eight of the nine countries in WAFU Zone A who have confirmed their participation in the zonal youth championship.[1]

2018 WAFU/FOX U-20 Tournament
Tournament details
Host country Liberia
Dates24 April – 5 May 2018
Teams8 (from 1 sub-confederation)
Venue(s)2 (in 1 host city)
Final positions
Champions Gambia
Runners-up Liberia
Third place Mali
Fourth place Ivory Coast
2008
2019

Host Liberia, Cape Verde, Guinea Bissau and Sierra Leone make up Group A whilst Senegal, Mali, Gambia and Guinea complete Group B.

Matches will be held at the Samuel Kanyon Doe Sports Stadium and the Antoinette Tubman Stadium, both in Monrovia, Liberia.[2]

Participants

edit

Officials

edit

Draw

edit

The draw was held on 26 March in Monrovia.[3]

Player eligibility

edit

Players born 1 January 1998 or later are eligible to participate in the competition.

Group stage

edit

The top two teams of each group advance to the semi-finals.

Tiebreakers

Teams are ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss), and if tied on points, the following tie-breaking criteria are applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings.

  1. Points in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
  2. Goal difference in all group matches;
  3. Goals scored in all group matches;
  4. Disciplinary points (yellow card = 1 point, red card as a result of two yellow cards = 3 points, direct red card = 3 points, yellow card followed by direct red card = 4 points);
  5. Drawing of lots.
  6. If, after applying criteria 1 to 3 to several teams, more than two teams still have an equal ranking, criteria 1 to 3 are reapplied exclusively to the matches between the two teams in question to determine their final rankings. If this procedure does not lead to a decision, criteria 7 to 9 apply;
  7. Points in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
  8. Goal difference in matches between the teams concerned;
  9. The greatest number of goals scored in the matches between the teams concerned.

All times are local UTC±00:00.

Group A

edit
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1   Ivory Coast 3 3 0 0 11 1 +10 9 Knockout stage
2   Liberia (H) 3 2 0 1 7 5 +2 6
3   Sierra Leone 3 1 0 2 4 10 −6 3
4   Guinea-Bissau 3 0 0 3 2 8 −6 0
First match(es) will be played: 2018. Source: WAFU
Rules for classification: Group stage tiebreakers
(H) Hosts
Liberia  0–3  Ivory Coast
Report
Guinea-Bissau  1–2  Sierra Leone
Report

Sierra Leone  1–4  Ivory Coast
Liberia  2–1  Guinea-Bissau
Referee:   Harouna Coulibaly

Liberia  5–1  Sierra Leone
Report
Referee:   Daouda Gueye
Ivory Coast  4–0  Guinea-Bissau
Report
Referee:   Harouna Coulibaly

Group B

edit
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1   Mali 3 2 0 1 4 2 +2 6 Knockout stage
2   Gambia 3 1 2 0 2 1 +1 5
3   Senegal 3 1 1 1 5 5 0 4
4   Guinea 3 0 1 2 3 6 −3 1
First match(es) will be played: 2018. Source: WAFU
Rules for classification: Group stage tiebreakers
Senegal  1–3  Mali
Sagna   77' Report
Gambia  1–1  Guinea
Jammeh   31' Report Vebe   26'

Guinea  0–1  Mali
Senegal  0–0  Gambia
Referee:   Gilberto Antonio dos Santos

Guinea  2–4  Senegal
Mali  0–1  Gambia
Referee:   Babacar Sarr

Knockout stage

edit

Bracket

edit
 
Semi-finalsFinal
 
      
 
2 May – Monrovia
 
 
  Ivory Coast1 (5)
 
5 May – Monrovia
 
  Gambia1 (6)
 
  Gambia2
 
2 May – Monrovia
 
  Liberia1
 
  Mali0
 
 
  Liberia1
 
Third place
 
 
5 May – Monrovia
 
 
  Ivory Coast0
 
 
  Mali1

Semi-finals

edit
Ivory Coast  1–1  Gambia
Report
Penalties
5–6

Mali  0–1  Liberia
Report
Referee:   Gilberto Antonio dos Santos

Third place match

edit
Ivory Coast  0–1  Mali
Report Gary   32'

Final

edit
Gambia  2–1  Liberia
Report Sengbeh   50'

Winners

edit
 2018 WAFU/FOX U-20 Tournament 
 
Gambia
First title

Awards

edit
Best Player

  Allen Njie[5]

Best Goalkeeper

  Yankuba Colley[5]

Top Scorer

  Yalatif Diabate[5]

References

edit
  1. ^ "WAFU 'A' U-20 Championship kicks off in Liberia April 24". April 16, 2018. Retrieved April 16, 2018.
  2. ^ "WAFU A/FOX U-20 TOURNAMENT FIXTURES" (PDF). Cafonline.com.
  3. ^ "WAFU U-20 Draw: Liberia Face Cape Verde, Guinea Bissau and Sierra Leone in Group A". March 27, 2018. Retrieved March 27, 2018.
  4. ^ "FIFA Referees News: 2018 WAFU U-20 Tournament - Final". 5 May 2018.
  5. ^ a b c "HOW GAMBIA CONQUERED WAFU - The Standard Newspaper". The Standard Newspaper. 10 May 2018. Archived from the original on 20 May 2018. Retrieved 19 May 2018.