| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Dates | 10 October 2003 - 9 October 2005 |
| Teams | 51 (from 1 confederation) |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 190 |
| Goals scored | 506 (2.66 per match) |
| Attendance | 5,616,922 (29,563 per match) |
| Top scorer(s) |  Emmanuel Adebayor (11 goals) |
| Qualification for championships (CAF) |
|---|
Listed below are the dates and results for the 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification rounds for Africa. 51 teams took part (only Comoros and Djibouti did not enter), competing for 5 World Cup places.
The qualification was composed of two rounds. Nine teams entered the competition directly on the second round: the five teams that qualified for the 2002 World Cup Finals (Cameroon, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, and Tunisia) and the four highest-ranking teams in the 25 June 2003 FIFA world rankings (Congo DR, Côte d'Ivoire, Egypt, and Morocco). The other 42 teams were paired to play knock-out matches home and away. The 21 winners would advance to the second round.
In the second round, the 30 teams were divided in five groups of six teams each. Teams in each group would play against each other in a home and away basis. The team with most points in each group would qualify to the World Cup.
The competition also constituted the qualification competition for the 2006 African Nations Cup with the top three nations of each group qualifying (except for Egypt, which qualifies as the host nation, the fourth nation in Egypt's group qualifying in Egypt's place).
The African qualifying zone saw four out of five finals places going to World Cup debutants (Angola, Togo, Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana). Nigeria missed out on a fourth consecutive finals appearance while Cameroon did not reach their fifth consecutive finals.
The African zone also featured a group of death — Group 3, which brought together Africa's most frequent World Cup qualifier Cameroon with the two eventual finalists of the 2006 Africa Cup of Nations: Egypt and the Ivory Coast.
| Team 1 | Agg. | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Guinea-Bissau  | 1–4 |  Mali | 1–2 | 0–2 |
Madagascar  | 3–4 |  Benin | 1–1 | 2–3 |
Seychelles  | 1–5 |  Zambia | 0–4 | 1–1 |
Botswana  | 4–1 |  Lesotho | 4–1 | 0–0 |
Equatorial Guinea  | 1–2 | Togo | 1–0 | 0–2 |
São Tomé and Príncipe  | 0–9 |  Libya | 0–1 | 0–8 |
Tanzania  | 0–3 |  Kenya | 0–0 | 0–3 |
Niger  | 0–7 |  Algeria | 0–1 | 0–6 |
Uganda  | 4–3 |  Mauritius | 3–0 | 1–3 (a.e.t.) |
Sudan  | 3–0 |  Eritrea | 3–0 | 0–0 |
Zimbabwe  | 4–2 |  Mauritania | 3–0 | 1–2 |
Swaziland  | 1–4 |  Cape Verde | 1–1 | 0–3 |
Burundi  | 1–4 |  Gabon | 0–0 | 1–4 |
Chad  | 3–3(a) |  Angola | 3–1 | 0–2 |
Congo  | 2–1 |  Sierra Leone | 1–0 | 1–1 |
Ethiopia  | 1–3 |  Malawi | 1–3 | 0–0 |
Rwanda  | 4–1 |  Namibia | 3–0 | 1–1 |
Guinea  | 5–3 |  Mozambique | 1–0 | 4–3 |
Gambia  | 2–3 |  Liberia | 2–0 | 0–3 |
Somalia  | 0–7 |  Ghana | 0–5 | 0–2 |
Burkina Faso  | w/o |  Central African Republic |
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | |  | | | | | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Togo | 10 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 20 | 8 | +12 | 23 | 2006 FIFA World Cup and 2006 African Cup of Nations | — | 3–1 | 4–1 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 3–0 | |
| 2 | Senegal | 10 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 21 | 8 | +13 | 21 | 2006 African Cup of Nations | 2–2 | — | 1–0 | 2–0 | 3–0 | 6–1 | |
| 3 | Zambia | 10 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 16 | 10 | +6 | 19 | 1–0 | 0–1 | — | 2–0 | 2–1 | 1–0 | ||
| 4 | Congo | 10 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 10 | 14 | −4 | 10 | 2–3 | 0–0 | 2–3 | — | 1–0 | 3–0 | ||
| 5 | Mali | 10 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 11 | 14 | −3 | 8 | 1–2 | 2–2 | 1–1 | 2–0 | — | 4–1 | ||
| 6 | Liberia | 10 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 3 | 27 | −24 | 4 | 0–0 | 0–3 | 0–5 | 0–2 | 1–0 | — |
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | |  |  | | | | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ghana | 10 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 17 | 4 | +13 | 21 | 2006 FIFA World Cup and 2006 African Cup of Nations | — | 0–0 | 3–0 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 2–0 | |
| 2 | DR Congo | 10 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 14 | 10 | +4 | 16 [lower-alpha 1] | 2006 African Cup of Nations | 1–1 | — | 1–0 | 3–2 | 2–1 | 4–0 | |
| 3 | South Africa | 10 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 12 | 14 | −2 | 16 [lower-alpha 1] | 0–2 | 2–2 | — | 2–0 | 2–1 | 2–1 | ||
| 4 | Burkina Faso | 10 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 14 | 13 | +1 | 13 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 3–1 | — | 1–2 | 2–0 | ||
| 5 | Cape Verde | 10 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 8 | 15 | −7 | 10 | 0–4 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 1–0 | — | 1–0 | ||
| 6 | Uganda | 10 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 6 | 15 | −9 | 8 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 2–2 | 1–0 | — |
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |  |  |  | | | | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ivory Coast | 10 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 20 | 7 | +13 | 22 | 2006 FIFA World Cup and 2006 African Cup of Nations | — | 2–3 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 5–0 | 3–0 | |
| 2 | Cameroon | 10 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 18 | 10 | +8 | 21 | 2006 African Cup of Nations | 2–0 | — | 1–1 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 2–1 | |
| 3 | Egypt [lower-alpha 1] | 10 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 26 | 15 | +11 | 17 | 1–2 | 3–2 | — | 4–1 | 6–1 | 4–1 | ||
| 4 | Libya | 10 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 8 | 10 | −2 | 12 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 2–1 | — | 0–0 | 4–1 | ||
| 5 | Sudan | 10 | 1 | 3 | 6 | 6 | 22 | −16 | 6 | 1–3 | 1–1 | 0–3 | 0–1 | — | 1–0 | ||
| 6 | Benin | 10 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 9 | 23 | −14 | 5 | 0–1 | 1–4 | 3–3 | 1–0 | 1–1 | — |
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | |  | | | | | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Angola | 10 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 12 | 6 | +6 | 21 [lower-alpha 1] | 2006 FIFA World Cup and 2006 African Cup of Nations | — | 1–0 | 1–0 | 3–0 | 2–1 | 1–0 | |
| 2 | Nigeria | 10 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 21 | 7 | +14 | 21 [lower-alpha 1] | 2006 African Cup of Nations | 1–1 | — | 5–1 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 2–0 | |
| 3 | Zimbabwe | 10 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 13 | 14 | −1 | 15 | 2–0 | 0–3 | — | 1–0 | 1–1 | 3–1 | ||
| 4 | Gabon | 10 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 11 | 13 | −2 | 10 | 2–2 | 1–1 | 1–1 | — | 0–0 | 3–0 | ||
| 5 | Algeria | 10 | 1 | 5 | 4 | 8 | 15 | −7 | 8 | 0–0 | 2–5 | 2–2 | 0–3 | — | 1–0 | ||
| 6 | Rwanda | 10 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 6 | 16 | −10 | 5 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 3–1 | 1–1 | — |
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |  |  | | | | | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tunisia | 10 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 25 | 9 | +16 | 21 | 2006 FIFA World Cup and 2006 African Cup of Nations | — | 2–2 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 4–1 | 7–0 | |
| 2 | Morocco | 10 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 17 | 7 | +10 | 20 | 2006 African Cup of Nations | 1–1 | — | 1–0 | 5–1 | 1–0 | 4–1 | |
| 3 | Guinea | 10 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 15 | 10 | +5 | 17 | 2–1 | 1–1 | — | 1–0 | 4–0 | 3–1 | ||
| 4 | Kenya | 10 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 8 | 17 | −9 | 10 | 0–2 | 0–0 | 2–1 | — | 1–0 | 3–2 | ||
| 5 | Botswana | 10 | 3 | 0 | 7 | 10 | 18 | −8 | 9 | 1–3 | 0–1 | 1–2 | 2–1 | — | 2–0 | ||
| 6 | Malawi | 10 | 1 | 3 | 6 | 12 | 26 | −14 | 6 | 2–2 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 3–0 | 1–3 | — |
The following five teams from CAF qualified for the final tournament.
| Team | Qualified as | Qualified on | Previous appearances in FIFA World Cup 1 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Togo | Second Round Group 1 winners | 8 October 2005 | 0 (debut) |
| Ghana | Second Round Group 2 winners | 8 October 2005 | 0 (debut) |
| Ivory Coast | Second Round Group 3 winners | 8 October 2005 | 0 (debut) |
| Angola | Second Round Group 4 winners | 8 October 2005 | 0 (debut) |
| Tunisia | Second Round Group 5 winners | 8 October 2005 | 3 (1978, 1998, 2002) |
There were 506 goals scored in 190 matches, for an average of 2.66 goals per match.
11 goals
9 goals
8 goals
7 goals
6 goals
Below are full goalscorer lists for each round:
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| Editions |
|
|---|---|
| Qualification | |
| Finals | |
| Bids | |
| Squads | |
| Statistics | |
| Miscellaneous | |
Notes: The 2021 and 2023 tournaments were actually held in 2022 and 2024 respectively. • There were no 1957 and 1959 qualifications as places were given by invitation only. • The "finals" articles for 1959 and 1976 are about the decisive matches of final group stages.  Football in Africaportal | |