Nigeria, Algeria and South Africa will be the teams representing the African continent at next year’s Summer Olympics in the football competition.

These three nations progressed to the semi-finals of the Under-23 CAF Africa Cup of Nations, which serves as the qualifying campaign for the summer Olympics, which will take place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 2016.

Nigeria and Algeria reached the final, which the West Africans eventually won 2-1 in a hard fought encounter. Etebo Oghenekaro scored two first half goals for the Nigerians to secure the U23 AFCON title on Saturday night, cancelling out an own goal from Oduduwa Segun Tope which gave the North Africans a glimmer of hope.

The U23 South African side secured their spot in Brazil next year thanks to a penalty shootout win against host nation Senegal, following a goalless stalemate in Dakar.

The success means a return to the Olympics for the first time in 16 years for the youngsters from South Africa, considering the fact that they were present at Sydney 2000.

The three African teams will be aiming to find themselves on the podium at the culmination of the football tournament next year, in an effort to bring home a medal for their nation from the world’s most popular multi-sport event.