Tunisia was selected to participate in the African Cup of Nations under 20 (CAN U20) 2025 in Egypt as a representative of the North Zone (UNAF).
Words access to UNAF’s request.
The choice of Tunisia echoes its status as a best unqualified team and the proposal made by UNAF to the president of CAF, Patrice Word. The northern zone militates, since the general assembly of CAF in Addis Ababa, for the increase in the number of representatives of the region, a request to which the boss of the CAF has always responded with a “OK, we will see!” “, According to a member of the UNAF. Is the choice made to Tunisia is a favorable response? It seems yes. But, as the Senegalese Federation recalls in her letter sent on April 11, 2025 – three days before the drawing of the draw -, even the all -powerful executive committee of the CAF cannot legally make such a decision. And until proven otherwise, the latter has still not met since its renewal and the renewal of Patrice Word for a new four -year term. The decision was ratified via an email consultation, according to several members of the executive contacted by Botola. However, according to the post of the Tunisian football Federation on its Facebook page, the day of the announcement of the Carthage Aiglons participation in the next CAN is “the Executive Committee of the African Football Confederation [qui, NDLR] Approved the proposal of the Tunisian Football Federation and validated Tunisia’s participation in the U20 African Cup of Nations, planned in Egypt during the current month. ”
“A blatant violation of statutes and regulations”
Suffice to say that the presence of Carthage Aiglons is disputed by the Senegalese Football Federation, both in substance and in form. “We have returned to us that procedures are carried out within the CAF to involve this competition a country (Tunisia) which has not qualified either on the ground in zonal preliminary competition, or by its status as an organizing country,” writes the Senegalese Federal body. In its missive, the FSF wishes to remind the continental body – dragged and beaten almost systematic in recent months before the heap of Lausanne – that the draft of Tunisia, a few days before kick -off, constitutes a “blatant violation of the statutes and regulations of our Confederation, as well as the sacrosabry principles which govern competitions: ethics and equity sports Among all the associations, ”warns the Senegalese part, title holder.
A question of legitimacy
The secretary general of the FSF reminds the boss of the CAF administration, Véron Mosengo-Momba, that “such a decision would break equality with the other unskilled national teams, but above all would greatly lend the teams that have sporty and legitimately won the right of participation in this CAN, in the event that the country concerned takes one of the qualifying places at the next FIFA World Cup Even the continental trophy ”. A case that recalls that of Denmark, crowned European champion in 1992 after being drafted to replace Yugoslavia at war and eliminated by UEFA.
A first meeting of the Houleuse Comex?
So many arguments that allow the most titled federation of the continent over a year to “firmly oppose the increase in the number of participants in the CAN U-20, from 12 to 13, to meet the unfounded demand, in law or in morality, of a national association”, concludes the letter to which Botolaa had access. A question that the Senegalese Football Federation would like to see the order of the day of the first meeting of the executive committee of the new mandate, scheduled for the end of this month in Accra, Ghana. But nothing is less certain, since the protest of the FSF, even before the outfit of the draw, did not prevent the CAF from proceeding and to include Tunisia in Pot 2, before pouring it into group B, in the company of Nigeria, Kenya and Morocco. According to a major source in Cairo, the Senegalese Federation is settling in accounts with the CAF top management. The former vice -president of the body, Maître Augustin Senghor, has still not digested the humiliation inflicted during the last elections on the FIFA Council and would have been dissenting. Still according to the same source, the boss of Senegalese football “would be ready to seize the TAS of Lausanne to contest the consultation of the Executive Committee”.
The + info
Eliminated during the qualifying UNAF tournament at CAN in the category, the Tunisian U-20 selection remained without technical staff. The Tunisian Football Federation (FTF) would have decided to entrust it to a duo of former internationals, Majdi Traoui and Aymen Mathlouthi, a decision that does not consensus within the FTF executive committee.
