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) |
Qualification for championships (CAF) |
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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.
All 54 CAF member associations entered to the competition. The seeding was based on the FIFA World Ranking from 23 December 2021 with teams ranked 1st to 42nd received a bye to the qualifying group stage, while the teams ranked 43rd to 54th had 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 |
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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 [lower-alpha 1] | Final tournament | — | 3–0 | 2–1 | 3–1 | |
2 | Ivory Coast | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 5 | +4 | 13 [lower-alpha 1] | 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 [lower-alpha 1] | — | 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 [lower-alpha 1] | — |
There were 319 goals scored in 132 matches, for an average of 2.42 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.
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