Uganda missed a chance to seal a place at the U17 World Cup following their group stage elimination at AFCON 2025 but they still have a second bite of the cherry.
Uganda’s dream of winning the 2025 U17 Africa Cup of Nations title went up in smoke following their loss to Zambia but all is not lost as far as World Cup qualification is concerned.
The Cubs lost their final group match 2-1 to Zambia, in a game which they will blame themselves for missing several chances, and that means they will not be able to seal a place at the World Cup directly from the tournament as only the top eight will do so.
Uganda had started their AFCON campaign with a 5-0 thrashing at the hands of Morocco but bounced back to beat Tanzania 3-0 to revive their hopes.
However, any chance of a place in the next round was cooled by Zambia following their final group stage loss to finish third, seeing Zambia and Morocco, who claimed the top two places in Group A, advance to the quarter-final and seal a World Cup ticket.
Uganda have been made to wait for a place at the global tournament as they will have to qualify through a playoff.
The Cubs will now wait to know their playoff opponent as they will take on the third-placed team in Group C that has Tunisia, Gambia and Senegal, who all play on Monday night.
Whoever they get, they will need to beat them at the playoff stage to claim their place at the World Cup by joining the other African teams that have qualified courtesy of reaching the quarter-finals