The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has announced that the participating teams for this year’s U17 African Cup of Nations in Algeria can register five (5) additional players.
The football body made the official announcement on Friday afternoon through a statement released via its website.
The participating teams including Nigeria’s Golden Eaglets are expected to register 21 players for the competition but CAF has said they can register additional players but their expenses will be covered by their association.
The 5 additional players are optional, and all their related expenses are covered by their association. Teams can choose to register 21 players only on their list.
Associations can choose to register an additional 1, 2, or up to 5 additional players; not necessarily 5.
The additional registered players will be part of the team’s final squad and are subject to MRI tests.
“The name of the twenty-one players must be written on the list of each match (11 players and 10 substitutes. Only 17 persons (7 officials and 10 substitutes) shall be authorized to seat on the substitution bench.”
Hence, the associations choosing to register additional players will choose 21 players only for each match. The players chosen can vary from one match to another as long as they are from the initial list approved by CAF.
The extra players who will not be on the list of 21 will not sit on the bench during the match. They will be seated in the technical seats.
The jersey number of the additional players will continue from 22 to 26.
For example: if a team registers one additional player, he will have the number 22, in the case of 2 additional players, they will have the numbers 22 and 23, and if 5 additional players they will have the numbers, 22 to 26.
Teams are allowed to register more than 3 goalkeepers from the additional list of players if they wish”, the statement said.