2018 WAFU/FOX U-20 Tournament

2018 WAFU/FOX U-20 Tournament
Tournament details
Host country	Liberia
Dates	24 April – 5 May 2018
Teams	8 (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

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]

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

Group A

Liberia
Ivory Coast
Guinea-Bissau
Sierra Leone

Group B

Officials

Referees

Daouda Gueye
Omar Sallah
Babacar Sarr
Harouna Coulibaly
Gilberto Antonio dos Santos
Jerry Yekeh
Baba Leno
Raymond Coker

Assistant Referees

Serigne Cheikh Touré
Ebrima Jallow
Hamedine Diba
Baba Yomboliba
Firmino Bassafim
Sekou Kanneh Jr
Ibrahim Ba
Mamadou Tere

Draw

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

Player eligibility

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

Group stage

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.

Points in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
Goal difference in all group matches;
Goals scored in all group matches;
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);
Drawing of lots.
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;
Points in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
Goal difference in matches between the teams concerned;
The greatest number of goals scored in the matches between the teams concerned.

All times are local UTC±00:00.

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Ivory Coast	3	3	0	11	1	+10	9	Knockout stage
2	Liberia (H)	3	2	1	7	5	+2	6	Knockout stage
3	Sierra Leone	3	1	2	4	10	−6	3
4	Guinea-Bissau	3	0	3	2	8	−6	0

First match(es) will be played: 2018. Source: WAFU
Rules for classification: Group stage tiebreakers
(H) Hosts

24 April 2018