The tournament was initially scheduled to take place in the Democratic Republic of the Congo between 5–19 December 2015.

On 6 August 2015, the CAF Executive Committee decided to change the name of the tournament from the CAF U-23 Championship to the Africa U-23 Cup of Nations, similar to the senior's version, Africa Cup of Nations.

Defending champions Gabon failed to qualify after they lost to Mali.

The draw for the final tournament of the competition took place on 14 September 2015, 11:00 UTC+2, at the CAF headquarters in Cairo.

The remaining six teams were drawn from one pot to fill the other positions in the two groups.

If tied on points, tiebreakers would be applied in the following order:[8] All times were local, GMT (UTC±0).