Tournament details | |
---|---|
Dates | 23 March 2022 – 17 October 2023 |
Teams | 52 (from 1 confederation) |
Tournament statistics | |
Matches played | 142 |
Goals scored | 348 (2.45 per match) |
Top scorer(s) | Victor Osimhen (10 goals) |
← 2021 2025 → |
Qualification for championships (CAF) |
---|
The 2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualification matches were organised by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) to decide the participating teams for 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.
All 54 CAF member associations entered the competition. The seeding was based on the FIFA World Ranking from 23 December 2021 with teams ranked 1st to 42nd receiving a bye to the qualifying group stage, while the teams ranked 43rd to 54th having to participate in the preliminary round. [1]
The preliminary round draw took place on 21 January 2022, 16:30 WAT (UTC+1), in Douala, Cameroon. [2]
Bye to group stage | Participating in preliminary round |
---|---|
|
|
The schedule of the qualifying tournament was as follows.
Round | Matchday | Dates | Matches |
---|---|---|---|
Preliminary round | First leg | 23–24 March 2022 | Team 1 vs. Team 2 |
Second leg | 27–29 March 2022 | Team 2 vs. Team 1 | |
Group stage | Matchday 1 | 1–13 June 2022 | Team 1 vs. Team 2, Team 3 vs. Team 4 |
Matchday 2 | Team 2 vs. Team 3, Team 4 vs. Team 1 | ||
Matchday 3 | 22–24 March 2023 | Team 1 vs. Team 3, Team 2 vs. Team 4 | |
Matchday 4 | 26–29 March 2023 | Team 3 vs. Team 1, Team 4 vs. Team 2 | |
Matchday 5 | 14–20 June 2023 | Team 2 vs. Team 1, Team 4 vs. Team 3 | |
Matchday 6 | 6–12 September 2023, 17 October 2023 | Team 3 vs. Team 2, Team 1 vs. Team 4 |
The twelve lowest-ranked teams were drawn into six ties to be played in home-and-away two-legged format. [4] The six winners advanced to the group stage to join the 42 teams which entered directly.
Team 1 | Agg. | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
---|---|---|---|---|
Eritrea | awd. | Botswana | Canc. | Canc. |
São Tomé and Príncipe | 4–3 | Mauritius | 1–0 | 3–3 |
Djibouti | 2–5 | South Sudan | 2–4 | 0–1 |
Seychelles | 1–3 | Lesotho | 0–0 | 1–3 |
Somalia | 1–5 | Eswatini | 0–3 | 1–2 |
Chad | 2–3 | Gambia | 0–1 | 2–2 |
The group stage draw took place on 19 April 2022 at 19:30 SAST (UTC+2) at SuperSport Broadcasting Studios in Johannesburg, South Africa. [5] [6] The 48 national teams involved were divided into twelve groups of four each (from Group A to Group L), which consisted of the 42 teams which entered directly, in addition to the six winners of the preliminary round. The 48 national teams had previously been seeded into four pots of twelve each based on the March 2022 FIFA World Rankings (shown in parentheses). [7] Teams in bold qualified for the final tournament.
Pot 1 | Pot 2 | Pot 3 | Pot 4 |
---|---|---|---|
Senegal (20) | South Africa (69) | Namibia (112) | Tanzania (130) |
The draw started with pot 4 and ended with pot 1; each team drawn was assigned into the first available group alphabetically (A–L) and within the group was placed in the position that corresponded to it according to its pot (i.e. position 1 for teams from pot 1, position 2 for teams from pot 2, position 3 for teams from pot 3 and position 4 for teams from pot 4). [6]
The 2023 Africa Cup of Nations hosts, Ivory Coast, participated in the qualifiers despite the team being guaranteed a spot in the finals, which meant only the best ranked team within their group apart from Ivory Coast qualified for the finals. The Ivory Coast matches and results counted in determining the qualification of the other teams from their group. [6]
Kenya and Zimbabwe were included in the draw despite being temporarily suspended by FIFA from all international football activities. In order to avoid a potential situation where one group contained only two valid teams, the aforementioned sides could thus not be drawn in the same group. [6] On 23 May 2022, CAF announced that both teams had been disqualified from the qualifiers as a result of their suspensions not being lifted by FIFA. [8] Thus, their groups were composed of only three teams, with the group winners and runners-up qualifying to the finals.
The draw ceremony was conducted by the CAF Director of Competitions Samson Adamu, with assistance by former South Africa defender Lucas Radebe and former Ivory Coast striker Salomon Kalou. [9]
The teams were ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss). If tied on points, tiebreakers were applied in the following order (Regulations Article 14):
Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Nigeria | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 22 | 4 | +18 | 15 | Final tournament | — | 0–1 | 2–1 | 6–0 | |
2 | Guinea-Bissau | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 11 | 5 | +6 | 13 | 0–1 | — | 2–1 | 5–1 | ||
3 | Sierra Leone | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 10 | 11 | −1 | 5 | 2–3 | 2–2 | — | 2–2 | ||
4 | São Tomé and Príncipe | 6 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 26 | −23 | 1 | 0–10 | 0–1 | 0–2 | — |
Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Burkina Faso | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 8 | 5 | +3 | 11 | Final tournament | — | 2–0 | 1–0 | 0–0 | |
2 | Cape Verde | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 8 | 6 | +2 | 10 | 3–1 | — | 2–0 | 0–0 | ||
3 | Togo | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 8 | 8 | 0 | 8 | 1–1 | 3–2 | — | 2–2 | ||
4 | Eswatini | 6 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 8 | −5 | 3 | 1–3 | 0–1 | 0–2 | — |
Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Cameroon | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 3 | +3 | 7 | Final tournament | — | 1–1 | 3–0 | Canc. | |
2 | Namibia | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 5 | 2–1 | — | 1–1 | Canc. | ||
3 | Burundi | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 7 | −3 | 4 | 0–1 | 3–2 | — | Canc. | ||
4 | Kenya | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Disqualified | Canc. | Canc. | Canc. | — |
Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Egypt | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 10 | 3 | +7 | 15 | Final tournament | — | 1–0 | 2–0 | 1–0 | |
2 | Guinea | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 9 | 7 | +2 | 10 | 1–2 | — | 1–0 | 2–0 | ||
3 | Malawi | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 10 | −6 | 5 | 0–4 | 2–2 | — | 2–1 | ||
4 | Ethiopia | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 8 | −3 | 4 | 2–0 | 2–3 | 0–0 | — |
Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Ghana | 6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 8 | 3 | +5 | 12 | Final tournament | — | 1–0 | 2–1 | 3–0 | |
2 | Angola | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 5 | +1 | 9 | 1–1 | — | 2–1 | 0–0 | ||
3 | Central African Republic | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 9 | 7 | +2 | 7 | 1–1 | 1–2 | — | 2–0 | ||
4 | Madagascar | 6 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 9 | −8 | 3 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 0–3 | — |
Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Algeria | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 2 | +7 | 16 | Final tournament | — | 0–0 | 2–0 | 2–1 | |
2 | Tanzania | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 4 | −1 | 8 | 0–2 | — | 0–1 | 1–0 | ||
3 | Uganda | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 6 | −1 | 7 | 1–2 | 0–1 | — | 1–1 | ||
4 | Niger | 6 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 8 | −5 | 2 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 0–2 | — |
Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Mali | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 15 | 2 | +13 | 15 | Final tournament | — | 2–0 | 4–0 | 4–0 | |
2 | Gambia | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 10 | 1–0 | — | 2–2 | 1–0 | ||
3 | Congo | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 10 | −5 | 7 | 0–2 | 1–0 | — | 1–2 | ||
4 | South Sudan | 6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 13 | −8 | 3 | 1–3 | 2–3 | 0–1 | — |
Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Zambia | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 12 | 6 | +6 | 13 [a] | Final tournament | — | 3–0 | 2–1 | 3–1 | |
2 | Ivory Coast | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 5 | +4 | 13 [a] | 3–1 | — | 3–1 | 1–0 | ||
3 | Comoros | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 6 | 8 | −2 | 7 | 1–1 | 0–2 | — | 2–0 | ||
4 | Lesotho | 6 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 9 | −8 | 1 | 0–2 | 0–0 | 0–1 | — |
Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | DR Congo | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 11 | 4 | +7 | 12 | Final tournament | — | 3–1 | 0–1 | 2–0 | |
2 | Mauritania | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 9 | 7 | +2 | 10 | 0–3 [a] | — | 2–1 | 3–0 | ||
3 | Gabon | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 5 | −2 | 7 | 0–2 | 0–0 | — | 1–0 | ||
4 | Sudan | 6 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 10 | −7 | 6 | 2–1 | 0–3 | 1–0 | — |
Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Tunisia | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 11 | 1 | +10 | 13 | Final tournament | — | 4–0 | 3–0 | 3–0 | |
2 | Equatorial Guinea | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 7 | +2 | 13 | 1–0 | — | 2–0 | 2–0 | ||
3 | Botswana | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 9 | −6 | 4 | 0–0 | 2–3 | — | 1–0 | ||
4 | Libya | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 8 | −6 | 4 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 | — |
Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Morocco | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 3 | +5 | 9 | Final tournament | — | 2–1 | 3–0 | Canc. | |
2 | South Africa | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 6 | +1 | 7 | 2–1 | — | 2–2 | Canc. | ||
3 | Liberia | 4 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 9 | −6 | 1 | 0–2 | 1–2 | — | Canc. | ||
4 | Zimbabwe | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Disqualified | Canc. | Canc. | Canc. | — |
Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Senegal | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 12 | 4 | +8 | 14 | Final tournament | — | 5–1 | 3–1 | 1–1 | |
2 | Mozambique | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 8 | 9 | −1 | 10 | 0–1 | — | 3–2 | 1–1 | ||
3 | Benin | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 8 | 9 | −1 | 5 | 1–1 | 0–1 | — | 1–1 | ||
4 | Rwanda | 6 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 9 | −6 | 3 | 0–1 | 0–2 | 0–3 [a] | — |
There were 348 goals scored in 142 matches, for an average of 2.45 goals per match.
10 goals
5 goals
4 goals
3 goals
2 goals
1 goal
1 own goal
The following teams qualified for the final tournament.
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 2015 Africa Cup of Nations qualification matches determined the participating teams for the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations.
The 2015 U-23 Africa Cup of Nations was the 2nd edition of the U-23 Africa Cup of Nations, the quadrennial international age-restricted football championship organised by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) for the men's under-23 national teams of Africa. The tournament started on 28 November and finished on 12 December 2015. A total of eight teams are playing in the tournament.
The 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, known in short as the 2023 AFCON or CAN 2023 and for sponsorship purposes as the TotalEnergies 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, was the 34th edition of the biennial Africa Cup of Nations tournament organised by the Confederation of African Football (CAF). It was hosted by Ivory Coast, taking place in the country for the second time following the 1984 edition.
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 Africa U-17 Cup of Nations, officially known as the Total U-17 Africa Cup Of Nations, Gabon 2017, was the 12th edition of the Africa U-17 Cup of Nations, the biennial international youth football tournament organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) for players aged 17 and below.
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 2019 Africa U-23 Cup of Nations was the third edition of the Africa U-23 Cup of Nations, the quadrennial international age-restricted football championship organised by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) for the men's under-23 national teams of Africa. It was hosted by Egypt between 8 and 22 November 2019.
The 2019 Africa U-20 Cup of Nations was the 15th edition of the Africa U-20 Cup of Nations, the biennial international youth football tournament organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) for players aged 20 and below. Niger hosted the tournament, which took place from 2 to 17 February 2019. The tournament involved 8 teams, with Niger making their U-20 Africa Cup of Nations debut.
The 2018 Africa Beach Soccer Cup of Nations was the third edition of the Africa Beach Soccer Cup of Nations (BSAFCON), the premier beach soccer championship in Africa contested by men's national teams who are members of the Confederation of African Football (CAF). Originally organised by Beach Soccer Worldwide (BSWW) under the title FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup CAF qualifier, in 2015, CAF became organisers and began using the BSAFCON title to which the competition was officially renamed the next year. Overall, this was the 9th edition of the event.
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. Morocco was originally scheduled to host the 2015 edition, but withdrew due to fears stemming from the Western African Ebola virus epidemic.
The 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualification matches were organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) to decide the participating teams for the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations, the 33rd edition of the international men's football championship of Africa. A total of 24 teams qualified to play in the final tournament, including Cameroon who qualified automatically as hosts.
The 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualification matches are organised by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) to decide the participating teams of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco, the 35th edition of the international men's football championship of Africa. The qualification began with the preliminary round which ran from 20 to 26 March 2024 and will conclude with the group stage, which will be played in September, October and November, all in 2024. A total of 24 teams will qualify to play in the final tournament, including automatically-qualified hosts Morocco.
Tanzania has only played in three Africa Cup of Nations, in 1980, 2019 and 2023. This resulted with Tanzania often struggled in qualifying campaign, and outside the first 1980 edition debut, Tanzania had to wait for 39 years before qualified to another AFCON. The national team's records in the tournament is also not impressive, with five defeats and one lone draw dated from their 1980 debut edition, a 1–1 draw to Ivory Coast.
Qualification for the 2020 Women's Africa Cup of Nations was scheduled to run from 6 April to 9 June 2020 with 12 teams, including the host nation team, participating in the group stages for the first time in the tournament. However, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) decided to cancel this edition due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Africa and rather launch the CAF Women's Champions League, which began the following year, i.e. 2021.
The 2023 U-20 Africa Cup of Nations, known as the 2023 U20 AFCON or 2023 AFCON U20 for short and as the 2023 TotalEnergies U-20 Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship purposes, was the 17th edition of the biennial African international youth football tournament organized by the Confederation of African Football. Egypt hosted the tournament, which took place from 19 February to 11 March 2023. The tournament involved 12 teams, Senegal won the tournament for the first time, defeating Gambia in the final and did not concede a single goal the entire tournament.
The 2023 U-17 Africa Cup of Nations known as the TotalEnergies U-17 Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship purposes or 2023 U17 AFCON for short was the 14th edition of the biennial African youth football tournament organized by Confederation of African Football (CAF) for players aged 17 and below and the first to feature 12 teams in the group stage instead of 8.
Group L of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualification tournament was one of the twelve groups that decided the teams which qualified for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations finals tournament. The group consisted of four teams: defending champions Senegal, Benin, Mozambique and Rwanda.
The 2023 U-23 Africa Cup of Nations, known for sponsorship purposes as the TotalEnergies U-23 Africa Cup of Nations, was the 4th edition of the quadrennial African football tournament organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) for its male national teams consisting of players under 23 years of age. It was held in Morocco between 24 June and 8 July 2023. It was the second time that Morocco hosted the tournament, as they were the inaugural hosts back in 2011.
The 2022 Africa Beach Soccer Cup of Nations was the fifth edition of the Africa Beach Soccer Cup of Nations (BSAFCON), the premier beach soccer championship in Africa contested by men's national teams who are members of the Confederation of African Football (CAF). The championship was originally organised by Beach Soccer Worldwide (BSWW) under the title of FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup CAF qualifier. In 2015, CAF became its organisers and began using the BSAFCON title to which the competition was officially renamed the next year. Therefore, this was the 11th edition of the event overall.