2015 Coupe d'Afrique des nations U-23 | |
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Tournament details | |
Host country | Senegal |
Dates | 28 November – 12 December 2015 |
Teams | 8 (from 1 confederation) |
Venue(s) | 2 (in 2 host cities) |
Final positions | |
Champions | Nigeria (1st title) |
Runners-up | Algeria |
Third place | South Africa |
Fourth place | Senegal |
Tournament statistics | |
Matches played | 16 |
Goals scored | 36 (2.25 per match) |
Top scorer(s) | Etebo Oghenekaro (5 goals) |
Best player | Okechukwu Azubuike |
Best goalkeeper | Abdelkader Salhi |
Fair play award | South Africa |
The 2015 Africa U-23 Cup of Nations was the 2nd edition of the Africa U-23 Cup of Nations, the quadrennial international age-restricted football championship organised by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) for the men's under-23 national teams of Africa. The tournament started on 28 November and finished on 12 December 2015. A total of eight teams are playing in the tournament.
The tournament was initially scheduled to take place in the Democratic Republic of the Congo between 5–19 December 2015. However, CAF changed the hosts and requested Senegal to host the tournament instead, and the tournament dates were also changed.
On 6 August 2015, the CAF Executive Committee decided to change the name of the tournament from the CAF U-23 Championship to the Africa U-23 Cup of Nations, similar to the senior's version, Africa Cup of Nations.
Same as the previous edition, the tournament acted as the CAF qualifiers for the Olympic football tournament. The top three teams of the tournament qualified for the 2016 Summer Olympics men's football tournament in Brazil as the CAF representatives.
Nigeria won the tournament with a 1–0 final win over Algeria. Both finalists and third-placed South Africa qualified for the Olympics.
Senegal qualified automatically as hosts, while the remaining seven spots were determined by the qualifying rounds, which took place from April to August 2015.
The following eight teams qualified for the final tournament. Defending champions Gabon failed to qualify after they lost to Mali.
The tournament was held in two venues.