Tournament details | |
---|---|
Dates | 7 October 2015 – 14 November 2017 |
Teams | 54 (from 1 confederation) |
Tournament statistics | |
Matches played | 127 |
Goals scored | 309 (2.43 per match) |
Attendance | 2,862,856 (22,542 per match) |
Top scorer(s) | Préjuce Nakoulma Mohamed Salah (5 goals each) |
Qualification for championships (CAF) |
---|
The African section of the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification acted as qualifiers for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, held in Russia, for national teams which were members of the Confederation of African Football (CAF). A total of five slots in the final tournament were available for CAF teams. [1]
The CAF Executive Committee approved the format for the qualifiers of the 2018 FIFA World Cup on 14 January 2015, [2] with three preliminary rounds before a final group stage featuring 20 teams. The number of preliminary rounds was reduced to two, based on information provided by FIFA in early July 2015. [3] [4]
The qualification structure was as follows: [4] [5]
All 54 FIFA-affiliated football associations from CAF entered qualification. [6] However, Zimbabwe were expelled from the competition on 12 March 2015 due to their failure to pay former coach José Claudinei a severance fee, [7] a decision that the Zimbabwe Football Association unsuccessfully appealed against. [8] [9]
The July 2015 FIFA Rankings were used to seed the teams for the first two rounds, both of which were drawn in Russia on 25 July 2015. [4] (World rankings shown in brackets) [10]
Bye to second round (ranked 1st to 27th) | Competing in first round (ranked 28th to 54th) |
---|---|
|
|
Note: Niger had to enter the first round as they had fewer FIFA ranking points (345.31) than Benin (345.46) and Libya (345.35). In the FIFA World Rankings, teams share the same ranking if their ranking points round to the same whole number.
The schedule of the competition was as follows. [11]
|
|
The draw for the first round was held as part of the 2018 FIFA World Cup Preliminary Draw on 25 July 2015, starting 18:00 MSK (UTC+3), at the Konstantinovsky Palace in Strelna, Saint Petersburg, Russia. [12]
Team 1 | Agg. | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
---|---|---|---|---|
Somalia | 0–6 | Niger | 0–2 | 0–4 |
South Sudan | 1–5 | Mauritania | 1–1 | 0–4 |
Gambia | 2–3 | Namibia | 1–1 | 1–2 |
São Tomé and Príncipe | 1–3 | Ethiopia | 1–0 | 0–3 |
Chad | 2–2 (a) | Sierra Leone | 1–0 | 1–2 |
Comoros | 1–1 (a) | Lesotho | 0–0 | 1–1 |
Djibouti | 1–8 | Swaziland | 0–6 | 1–2 |
Eritrea | 1–5 | Botswana | 0–2 | 1–3 |
Seychelles | 0–3 | Burundi | 0–1 | 0–2 |
Liberia | 4–2 | Guinea-Bissau | 1–1 | 3–1 |
Central African Republic | 2–5 | Madagascar | 0–3 | 2–2 |
Mauritius | 2–5 | Kenya | 2–5 | 0–0 |
Tanzania | 2–1 | Malawi | 2–0 | 0–1 |
The draw for the second round was held as part of the 2018 FIFA World Cup Preliminary Draw on 25 July 2015, starting 18:00 MSK (UTC+3), at the Konstantinovsky Palace in Strelna, Saint Petersburg, Russia. [12]
Team 1 | Agg. | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
---|---|---|---|---|
Niger | 0–3 | Cameroon | 0–3 | 0–0 |
Mauritania | 2–4 | Tunisia | 1–2 | 1–2 |
Namibia | 0–3 | Guinea | 0–1 | 0–2 |
Ethiopia | 4–6 | Congo | 3–4 | 1–2 |
Chad | 1–4 | Egypt | 1–0 | 0–4 |
Comoros | 0–2 | Ghana | 0–0 | 0–2 |
Swaziland | 0–2 | Nigeria | 1–0 | 0–2 |
Botswana | 2–3 | Mali | 2–1 | 0–2 |
Burundi | 2–6 | DR Congo | 2–3 | 0–3 [note 1] |
Liberia | 0–4 | Ivory Coast | 0–1 | 0–3 |
Madagascar | 2–5 | Senegal | 2–2 | 0–3 |
Kenya | 1–2 | Cape Verde | 1–0 | 0–2 |
Tanzania | 2–9 | Algeria | 2–2 | 0–7 |
Sudan | 0–3 | Zambia | 0–1 | 0–2 |
Libya | 4–1 | Rwanda | 1–0 | 3–1 |
Morocco | 2–1 | Equatorial Guinea | 2–0 | 0–1 |
Mozambique | 1–1 (3–4 p) | Gabon | 1–0 | 0–1 (a.e.t.) |
Benin | 2–3 | Burkina Faso | 2–1 | 0–2 |
Togo | 0–4 | Uganda | 0–1 | 0–3 |
Angola | 1–4 | South Africa | 1–3 | 0–1 |
The draw for the third round was held on 24 June 2016, 17:00 EET (UTC+2), at the CAF headquarters in Cairo, Egypt. [14]
2018 FIFA World Cup qualification tiebreakers |
---|
In league format, the ranking of teams in each group was based on the following criteria (regulations Articles 20.6 and 20.7): [15]
|
Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Tunisia | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 11 | 4 | +7 | 14 | Qualification to 2018 FIFA World Cup | — | 2–1 | 0–0 | 2–0 | |
2 | DR Congo | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 14 | 7 | +7 | 13 | 2–2 | — | 4–0 | 3–1 | ||
3 | Libya | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 10 | −6 | 4 | 0–1 | 1–2 | — | 1–0 | ||
4 | Guinea | 6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 6 | 14 | −8 | 3 | 1–4 | 1–2 | 3–2 | — |
Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Nigeria | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 11 | 6 | +5 | 13 | Qualification to 2018 FIFA World Cup | — | 1–0 | 4–0 | 3–1 | |
2 | Zambia | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 8 | 7 | +1 | 8 | 1–2 | — | 2–2 | 3–1 | ||
3 | Cameroon | 6 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 7 | 9 | −2 | 7 | 1–1 | 1–1 | — | 2–0 | ||
4 | Algeria | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 6 | 10 | −4 | 4 | 3–0 [lower-alpha 1] | 0–1 | 1–1 | — |
Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Morocco | 6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 11 | 0 | +11 | 12 | Qualification to 2018 FIFA World Cup | — | 0–0 | 3–0 | 6–0 | |
2 | Ivory Coast | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 5 | +2 | 8 | 0–2 | — | 1–2 | 3–1 | ||
3 | Gabon | 6 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 7 | −5 | 6 | 0–0 | 0–3 | — | 0–0 | ||
4 | Mali | 6 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 9 | −8 | 4 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | — |
Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Senegal | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 10 | 3 | +7 | 14 | Qualification to 2018 FIFA World Cup | — | 0–0 | 2–0 | 2–1 | |
2 | Burkina Faso | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 10 | 6 | +4 | 9 | 2–2 | — | 4–0 | 1–1 | ||
3 | Cape Verde | 6 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 12 | −8 | 6 | 0–2 | 0–2 | — | 2–1 | ||
4 | South Africa | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 7 | 10 | −3 | 4 | 0–2 [lower-alpha 1] | 3–1 | 1–2 | — |
Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Egypt | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 4 | +4 | 13 | Qualification to 2018 FIFA World Cup | — | 1–0 | 2–0 | 2–1 | |
2 | Uganda | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 2 | +1 | 9 | 1–0 | — | 0–0 | 1–0 | ||
3 | Ghana | 6 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 7 | 5 | +2 | 7 | 1–1 | 0–0 | — | 1–1 | ||
4 | Congo | 6 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 12 | −7 | 2 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 1–5 | — |
The following five teams qualified for the final tournament.
Team | Qualified as | Qualified on | Previous appearances in FIFA World Cup 1 |
---|---|---|---|
Tunisia | Group A winners | 11 November 2017 | 4 (1978, 1998, 2002, 2006) |
Nigeria | Group B winners | 7 October 2017 | 5 (1994, 1998, 2002, 2010, 2014) |
Morocco | Group C winners | 11 November 2017 | 4 (1970, 1986, 1994, 1998) |
Senegal | Group D winners | 10 November 2017 | 1 (2002) |
Egypt | Group E winners | 8 October 2017 | 2 (1934, 1990) |
There were 309 goals scored in 127 matches, for an average of 2.43 goals per match.
5 goals
4 goals
Below are full goalscorer lists for each round:
After Morocco qualified for the tournament with a 2–0 victory over Ivory Coast, the celebrations by the Moroccan community in Brussels turned into a riot with cars burnt, shops looted by some 300 rioters and 20 police officers injured. [18] [19] Firefighters sent to put out the fires were also attacked by the rioters. [19]
The Morocco national football team represents Morocco in men's international football, and is controlled by the Royal Moroccan Football Federation, the governing body for football in Morocco.
The Eritrea national football team represents Eritrea in men's international football and it is controlled by the Eritrean National Football Federation (ENFF). It is nicknamed the Red Sea Boys. It has never qualified for the finals of the FIFA World Cup and the Africa Cup of Nations. Local side Red Sea FC are the main supplier for the national team and the team represents both FIFA and Confederation of African Football (CAF).
The African section of the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification acted as the qualifies of the 2014 FIFA World Cup saw 52 teams from the Confederation of African Football (CAF) who competing for 5 spots of the 32 teams in the finals.
The 2015 Africa Cup of Nations, known as the Orange Africa Cup of Nations, Equatorial Guinea 2015 for sponsorship reasons, was the 30th staging of the Africa Cup of Nations, the international men's football championship of Africa. It was organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) and was held from 17 January to 8 February 2015.
The 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification process was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA confederations to decide 31 of the 32 teams which would play in the 2018 FIFA World Cup, with Russia qualifying automatically as hosts. All 210 remaining FIFA member associations were eligible to enter the qualifying process, and for the first time in World Cup history, all eligible national teams registered for the preliminary competition, but Zimbabwe and Indonesia were disqualified before playing their first matches. Bhutan, South Sudan, Gibraltar and Kosovo made their FIFA World Cup qualification debuts, while Myanmar participated after successfully appealing against a ban from the competition, although the team was obliged to play its home matches outside the country.
The Zambia women's national association football team represents Zambia in association football, participating in qualifying tournaments for the FIFA Women's World Cup and other African-based competitions. It made its debut in the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup, becoming the first landlocked nation in Africa to qualify for a senior World Cup in either men's or women's soccer.
The 2015 Africa Cup of Nations qualification matches determined the participating teams for the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations.
The 2017 Africa Cup of Nations qualification matches were organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) to decide the participating teams of the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations, the 31st edition of the international men's football championship of Africa. A total of 16 teams qualified to play in the final tournament, including Gabon who qualified automatically as hosts.
The 2017 CAF Champions League was the 53rd edition of Africa's premier club football tournament organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF), and the 21st edition under the current CAF Champions League title.
The first round of CAF matches for 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification was played from 7 to 17 October 2015.
The Women's Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON), known for sponsorship purposes as the TotalEnergies Women's Africa Cup of Nations and formerly the African Women's Championship, is a biennial international women's football tournament organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) since 1991 as the qualification for the FIFA Women's World Cup for African nations. Initially started as a home-and-away qualification competition, it got rechristened as a biennial tournament in 1998 and took on its current name as of the 2016 edition.
The second round of CAF matches for 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification was played from 11 to 17 November 2015.
The 2019 Africa Cup of Nations qualification matches were organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) to decide the participating teams of the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations, the 32nd edition of the international men's football championship of Africa.
The 2018–19 CAF Champions League was the 55th edition of Africa's premier club football tournament organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF), and the 23rd edition under the current CAF Champions League title.
The 2025 Africa Cup of Nations, also referred to as AFCON 2025 or CAN 2025, is scheduled to be the 35th edition of the biennial African football tournament organised by the Confederation of African Football (CAF). It will be hosted by Morocco for the second time and the first since 1988 in July and August 2025. Morocco was originally scheduled to host the 2015 edition, but withdrew due to fears stemming from the Western African Ebola virus epidemic. Due to FIFA expanding its Club World Cup competition to 32 teams and having it scheduled for June and July that year, this edition of the tournament will be played a month later than was originally scheduled.
The 2019–20 CAF Confederation Cup was the 17th edition of Africa's secondary club football tournament organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF), under the current CAF Confederation Cup title after the merger of CAF Cup and African Cup Winners' Cup.
The 2019–20 CAF Champions League was the 56th edition of Africa's premier club football tournament organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF), and the 24th edition under the current CAF Champions League title.
The African section of the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification acted as qualifiers for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, to be held in Qatar, for national teams which are members of the Confederation of African Football (CAF). A total of five slots in the final tournament were available for CAF teams.
The 2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualification matches were organised by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) to decide the participating teams of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations in Ivory Coast, the 34th edition of the international men's football championship of Africa. A total of 24 teams qualified to play in the final tournament, including Ivory Coast, who qualified automatically as hosts.
Qualification for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations began with the preliminary round, which ran from 20 to 26 March 2024. A total of 24 teams will qualify to play in the final tournament, including automatically-qualified hosts Morocco.