Hosts Morocco will be up against East African opponents for the first time at the TotalEnergies CAF 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 the second occasions 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 tournaments 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 a 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.