By Amaechi Agbo

Ahead of the commencement of the 2021 U-17 Africa Cup of Nations, AFCON championship on Saturday next week, the Confederation of Africa Football, CAF has released guidelines concerning teams’ participations, sanctions and directives on how the tournament would be conducted, Besthcoicesports.com.ng can report

CAF restated that the tournament will commence from March 13^th and end on 31^st, the continental’s football governing body also disclosed that the adoption of five substitution per match will be allowed.

While announcing that deadline for the submission of official team list via online has ended on March 3^rd, 2021, CAF added that in an event a player fails the mandatory MRI test that will be conducted before the competition starts, the entire team will be disqualified.  

In a release Thursday, CAF noted that the final tournament of the Total U17 Africa Cup of Nations, Morocco 2021 will be held from 13th to 31st March 2021 in the cities of Rabat, Mohammedia and Casablanca in Morocco.

This edition of the U17 AFCON will not qualify for the FIFA World Cup as the 2021 edition has been officially cancelled by the FIFA Council Bureau.

“Here are some important things to know as the tournament approaches:

List of players and online registration

• The list of 21 players (including 3 goalkeepers) for the final tournament must be registered on the CAF CMS and communicated to the CAF secretariat at least ten days before the first match of the final tournament.

In this specific case, the deadline is March 3, 2021 before midnight. Any national Association that does not conform to this provision will pay to CAF a fine of five thousand (5.000) US dollarsas stipulates by article 58.1 of the regulations.

No other modification to the list of twenty-one (21) players will be allowed, unless in cases of force majeure, recognized as such by the organizing committee. If the list of 21 players is not received at CAF Secretariat 7 days prior to the kick-off day of the Final Tournament, the concerned team will be only allowed to register 19 players.

• Reference to FIFA and CAF protocol for the sanitary guidelines related to the COVID19 pandemic including PCR tests for the players of the teams concerned by the matches, if the result of the test of any player is positive, this player will not be authorized to participate in the said match.

Hence, in order to allow teams participating in CAF competitions to have a sufficient number of players during matches; CAF Emergency Committee decided the following:

– To increase the list of players by 10 players, therefore the list of players could be increased to a maximum of thirty (31) players.

• Each federation will bear the cost of the international travel as well as the accommodation of any additional player on the final list of their team.

• The registration of the 10 additional players to the final list of players is only an option and not an obligation.

• According to COVID-19 regulations if a team does not have the minimum number of players, 11 players to play a match, the team will be considered to have lost the match 2- 0.

Other important points:

– Each federation is only allowed to register a maximum of 31 players and 7 officials and 4 additional.

– However, the LOC will only cover the expenses of sojourn of 28 people only.

– Each National Association is requested to ensure that the list is registered on CMS by midnight March 3rd, 2021 at the latest.

Players shirts

The numbers on the players’ shirts must correspond to the numbers on this list of 31 players (of which 3 must be goalkeepers) as submitted to CAF.

The number to be worn by a player shall be the same for the whole duration of the Tournament.

Replacement of injured players

A player on the final list cannot be substituted unless he is seriously injured twenty-four (24) hours at the latest before the start of the first match of his team.

His substitution must be approved in writing by the medical committee of CAF, after reception and approval of a detailed medical certificate.

CAF Medical Committee shall study the case and submit to the Organizing Committee for approval.

In case the replacement is approved, the association must immediately designate a substitute player and inform CAF General Secretariat of the substitute player.

The final list of the players shall be published by CAF General Secretariat.

Substitutions during the match

The temporary amendments to law 3 shall be applied in the U17 AFCON, in summary:

– Each team will be permitted to use a maximum of five substitutes.

– To reduce disruption to the match, each team will have a maximum of three opportunities to make substitutions during the game; substitutions may also be made at half-time.

– If both teams make a substitution at the same time, this will count as one of the three opportunities for each team.

Eligibility of player and age limit

All registered players will have to justify their identity and dates of birth by presenting their passports to the General Coordinator during the first meeting entitled “Team Arrival Meeting”.

Only players born within the following age limit are eligible to participate in the U17 AFCON Morocco 2021:

• Upper age limit: all players must be a maximum of 17 years old by the end of 2021 (i.e. born on or after 1 January 2004)

• Lower age limit: all players must be minimum 15 years old by the end of 2021 (i.e. born on or before 31 December 2006)

CAF medical department will organize in Morocco Age eligibility tests (MRI) before the start of the competition to confirm the age eligibility of the participating teams.

Sanction on age ineligibility

in accordance with article 27.4 of the U17 AFCON regulations, if after performing the age eligibility test (MRI) for a participating team and one (1) player was found non-eligible, the participating team will be disqualified.”

National anthems and flags

National Associations should immediately send their national anthems and flags to the host country, as well as an MP3 version of the anthem to competitions@cafonline.com

Each team is also requested to bring to the Final Tournament a good version of the national anthem on a USB and deliver it to the GC during the Team Arrival Meeting.

Official kit

Article 4.05 of the competition regulations states the following:

“By the deadline stipulated in the corresponding CAF competition regulations, the club or member association must submit a complete set of the Sporting kit items to the CAF administration for inspection and approval including and not limited to:

a) first-choice kit (shirt, shorts and socks)

b) second-choice kit (shirt, shorts and socks)

c) Technical staff kit

d) Any additional kit(s) (shirt, shorts and socks)

e) Training line

f) Accessories»

Each association shall communicate to CAF, a month before the kick-off of the Final Tournament, the main colours and the reserve colours of its equipment. The numbers from 1 to 31 on the shirts and shorts as well as the players’ names on the shirts must comply with the CAF Equipment Regulations. The number 1 will be reserved exclusively to one of the goalkeepers. The selected numbers on the shirts must correspond to those indicated in the final list of players.

Accommodation and arrival details

Each team should arrive in Morocco five days before their first match. Therefore, each team is requested to send the LOC the number of people and the arrival details of their delegation. Flight tickets are taken in charge by the travelling associations.

Each team will have its own separate dining and meeting room.

To book extra rooms at their own expense or in the event of a meal requirement for the players, teams are requested to contact the LOC: contact@frmf.ma

Laundry services: The LOC shall bear the cost of the laundry of playing kits (shirt, short and socks) based on a maximum one kit per player per day for each Team. The Organizing Association also bears the cost of the laundry of the bibs used by the teams after each match and training.

Accreditation

Each association will receive a maximum of 42 accreditations (21 to 31 players maximum depending on the additional number of registered players, 7 for officials on the bench and 4 additional accreditations).

In addition, for accreditation purposes, each National Association is requested to upload into the CMS system a color photo of each team delegation (i.e. players and officials) no later than March 3. 2021 in order to be able to hand out the accreditations during the team arrival meeting. If the National Association does not upload the photos as indicated above the accreditations will not be distributed at the arrival meetings.

In case of difficulties to download, the teams can contact: support@cafcms.net

Stadiums

the tournament will be played in the following three stadiums in Natural turf:

1- Complexe Moulay El Hassan – Rabat

2- Stade El Bachir – Mohammedia

3- Stade Père Jégo – Casablanca

Daily trainings

Teams are requested to communicate to the LOC their daily training requirements for their teams in order to enable the LOC to prepare an appropriate program.

Balls

CAF will provide the match balls for the TOTAL U17 Africa Cup of Nations- Maroc 2021. Only these balls will be used in the official training of your team in the stadium and in the warm up before the match.

Bibs for players

CAF will also provide the teams with “CAF” bibs that the substitute players will be wearing on match days. Teams must use these bibs on match days for substitute players sitting on the bench and when warming up.

Visa

In order to avoid any problems when boarding from your own country or upon arrival to Morocco, teams are requested to check whether they require a visa to enter Morocco.

For more information or visa request on arrival, it is recommended to contact the LOC: contact@frmf.ma

Vaccination

Delegations are requested to inquire on the vaccinations required for Morocco.