The Confederation of African Football has reaffirmed that next year’s Africa U17 Cup of Nations will still include 12 finalists, as opposed to the minimum of 16 teams predicted by African football fans.

This means that, despite defeating host nation Ghana in Tuesday’s third-place match of the WAFU B U17 Championship, Nigeria’s Golden Eaglets have not advanced to the finals.

“The final tournament will still have 12 teams,” CAF’s Director of Competitions, Samson Adamu, told the Nigeria Football Federation.

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African football fans had high hopes that the 2025 Africa U17 Cup of Nations would be expanded after FIFA allocated 10 slots to the continent for the 2025 FIFA U17 World Cup, which Qatar has been selected to host, during its Congress in Bangkok last week.

Qatar will host five straight FIFA U17 World Cup finals starting next year, each with 48 countries in attendance.