The draw was held on 12 December 2024 at the CAF headquarters in
Cairo,
Egypt. • First Round: The 12 lowest-ranked teams, based on previous U-20 Women's World Cup qualifiers performance, will contest in this round. The six winners will advance to join the 26 top-ranked teams exempted from the first round. • Second Round: The six first-round winners and 26 exempted teams will form 32 teams. These will battle it out for 16 spots in the third round. • Third Round: The remaining 16 teams will compete in a knockout format to determine the eight teams advancing to the fourth round. • Fourth Round: The final eight teams will play knockout ties, with the winners earning qualification to the 2026 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup.
Entrants A total of 38 (out of 54) CAF member associations registered teams for the competition. The teams were seeded based on their performance in
the previous qualifying campaign. The four lowest-ranked teams, along with eight associations that did not participate in the previous edition, entered the first round, which featured six ties. The winners of these ties advanced to the second round. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • ;Qualification rankings
Draw pots The teams were seeded into pots based on geographical distribution, with UNAF, UNIFFAC and WAFU placed in one pot and CECAFA and COSAFA in the other. Ties were drawn between teams from the same pot to minimize travel costs. ;First round ;Second round
Did not enter The following associations have previously fielded or currently field a women's under-20 team but chose not to participate: • • • • • • • • • • • • The following associations have never fielded a women's under-20 team and did not participate: • • • • ==Format==