Equatorial Guinea U23

Against Nigeria, the gap showed at once: a 5-0 defeat in a 2011 qualifier left little doubt about where Equatorial Guinea's under-23 side stood next to West Africa's established academies. Against São Tomé and Príncipe, a neighbour across the Gulf of Guinea and closer in size and resources, the contest read differently — a 3-1 win in 2018 gave the team the kind of result that actually carries a tie forward, rather than one that simply ends it.

The side answers to the Equatoguinean Football Federation and trains and plays out of Malabo, the capital, known in this age group by the same name carried by the senior team, Nzalang Nacional. Matches are staged at the Nuevo Estadio de Malabo, which holds around 15,250, and the kit follows the senior side's lead too: red shirts, shorts and socks at home, white with blue stripes away.

Its business has been the CAF U23 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers and the African Olympic preliminaries, rounds built on two-legged ties against opponents of similarly modest resources, São Tomé and Príncipe among them, rather than the continent's traditional heavyweights. A final tournament has yet to follow, and no continental title has come its way.