2018 African Nations Championship qualification|
Dates | 22 April – 12 November 2017 |
---|
Teams | 48 (from 1 confederation) |
---|
|
Matches played | 65 |
---|
Goals scored | 152 (2.34 per match) |
---|
Top scorer(s) | Sékou Amadou Camara (8 goals) |
---|
|
The 2018 African Nations Championship qualification was a men's football competition which decided the participating teams of the 2018 African Nations Championship. Only national team players who were playing in their country's own domestic league were eligible to compete in the tournament.
A total of sixteen teams qualified to play in the final tournament.
Teams
A total of 48 (out of 54) CAF member national teams entered the qualifying rounds, split into zones according to their regional affiliations.[1]
- Notes
- Teams in bold qualified for the final tournament.
- Central African Republic were excluded by the CAF from participating because of their withdrawal against DR Congo in the 2016 African Nations Championship qualification.
- Chad withdrew on 27 March 2016, but however, on 24 May 2016, Chad announced that they would not be able to qualify for CHAN 2018, and São Tomé and Príncipe officially entered the qualification, along with Equatorial Guinea.
- Egypt were expected to withdraw from the CHAN 2018, but however, on 4 June 2016, it was announced that Egypt would participate in the CHAN 2018 qualification.
- On 12 March 2017, the Football Association of Malawi announced their senior national football team would withdraw from the competition due to the lack of funding.[2] However, they later announced its reversal of this decision and would continue to compete.[3]
- Kenya were the original hosts and would have qualified automatically. However, on 23 September 2017, the CAF decided to withdraw their hosting rights due to a lack of progress with preparations.[4][5]
- Morocco were named as the new hosts on 14 October 2017.[6] Since they had already qualified in the North Zone, their spot in the final tournament was re-allocated to Egypt, which lost to Morocco in the North Zone final qualifying round.[7] However, Egypt declined to participate citing a "congested domestic calendar".[8] As a result, the spot was reverted to Central-East Zone (as originally three teams would participate including Kenya as original hosts), and would go to the winner of a play-off between Ethiopia and Rwanda, the two teams which lost in the Central-East Zone final qualifying round.[9]
Schedule
The draw was held on 3 February 2017 at Libreville, Gabon.[10]
The schedule of the qualifying rounds was as follows.[11]
Zone / Round
|
Matchday
|
Date
|
North Zone Central Zone
|
West A Zone West B Zone
|
Central-East Zone South Zone
|
—
|
—
|
First round
|
First leg
|
20–22 April 2017
|
Second leg
|
28–30 April 2017
|
—
|
First round
|
Second round
|
First leg
|
14–16 July 2017
|
Second leg
|
21–23 July 2017
|
First round
|
Second round
|
Third round
|
First leg
|
11–13 August 2017
|
Second leg
|
18–20 August 2017
|
Qualification ties were played on a home-and-away two-legged basis. If the aggregate score was tied after the second leg, the away goals rule would be applied, and if still level, the penalty shoot-out would be used to determine the winner (no extra time would be played).[12]
North Zone
- All four teams (Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco) entered the first round.
First round
Winners qualify for 2018 African Nations Championship.
Morocco won 4–2 on aggregate.
Libya won 3–2 on aggregate.
West A Zone
- All eight teams (Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Senegal, Sierra Leone) entered the first round.
First round
Senegal won 4–2 on aggregate.
Guinea won 10–1 on aggregate.
Mauritania won 2–1 on aggregate.
Mali won 4–0 on aggregate.
Second round
Winners qualify for 2018 African Nations Championship.
Guinea won 6–3 on aggregate.
Mauritania won 3–2 on aggregate.
West B Zone
- Two teams (Benin, Togo) entered the first round.
- Five teams (Burkina Faso, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Niger, Nigeria) entered the second round.
First round
Team 1
|
Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score
|
Team 2
|
1st leg
|
2nd leg
|
Togo
|
2–2 (7–8 p)
|
Benin
|
1–1
|
1–1
|
2–2 on aggregate. Benin won 8–7 on penalties.
Second round
Winners qualify for 2018 African Nations Championship.
Nigeria won 2–1 on aggregate.
2–2 on aggregate. Ivory Coast won on away goals.
Burkina Faso won 4–3 on aggregate.
Central Zone
- All six teams (Cameroon, Congo, DR Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, São Tomé and Príncipe) entered the first round.
First round
Winners qualify for 2018 African Nations Championship.
Equatorial Guinea won on walkover after Gabon withdrew prior to the first leg.[15]
1–1 on aggregate. Congo won on away goals.
Cameroon won 4–0 on aggregate.
Central-East Zone
- Two teams (Somalia, South Sudan) entered the first round.
- Seven teams (Burundi, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda) entered the second round.
First round
South Sudan won 4–1 on aggregate.
Second round
Uganda won 5–1 on aggregate.
1–1 on aggregate. Rwanda won on away goals.
Ethiopia won on walkover after Djibouti withdrew prior to the second leg.[17]
Sudan won 1–0 on aggregate.
Third round
Winners qualify for 2018 African Nations Championship.
Uganda won 3–2 on aggregate.
Sudan won 2–1 on aggregate.
Play-off
Winner qualifies for 2018 African Nations Championship (replacing the original hosts Kenya which would have qualified automatically).
Rwanda won 3–2 on aggregate.
South Zone
- Four teams (Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Seychelles) entered the first round.
- Ten teams (Angola, Botswana, Comoros, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia, Zimbabwe) entered the second round.
First round
Madagascar won 2–0 on aggregate.
Mauritius won 3–2 on aggregate.
Second round
Madagascar won 4–2 on aggregate.
Angola won 4–2 on aggregate.
Comoros win 2–1 on aggregate.
1–1 on aggregate. Namibia won 5–4 on penalties.
South Africa won 3–0 on aggregate.
Zambia won 7–0 on aggregate.
Third round
Winners qualify for 2018 African Nations Championship.
Angola won 1–0 on aggregate.
Namibia won 3–2 on aggregate.
Zambia won 4–2 on aggregate.
Qualified teams
The following 16 teams qualified for the final tournament.
Team
|
Qualifying zone
|
Qualified on
|
Previous appearances in African Nations Championship1
|
Morocco (hosts) |
North Zone |
18 August 2017 |
2 (2014, 2016)
|
Libya |
18 August 2017 |
2 (2009, 2014)
|
Guinea |
West A Zone |
23 August 2017 |
1 (2016)
|
Mauritania |
19 August 2017 |
1 (2014)
|
Nigeria |
West B Zone |
19 August 2017 |
2 (2014, 2016)
|
Ivory Coast |
19 August 2017 |
3 (2009, 2011, 2016)
|
Burkina Faso |
20 August 2017 |
1 (2014)
|
Equatorial Guinea |
Central Zone |
9 August 2017 |
0 (debut)
|
Congo |
19 August 2017 |
1 (2014)
|
Cameroon |
19 August 2017 |
2 (2011, 2016)
|
Uganda |
Central-East Zone |
19 August 2017 |
3 (2011, 2014, 2016)
|
Sudan |
19 August 2017 |
1 (2011)
|
Rwanda |
12 November 2017 |
2 (2011, 2016)
|
Angola |
South Zone |
19 August 2017 |
2 (2011, 2016)
|
Namibia |
20 August 2017 |
0 (debut)
|
Zambia |
19 August 2017 |
2 (2009, 2016)
|
1 Bold indicates champions for that year. Italic indicates hosts for that year.
Goalscorers
- 8 goals
- 4 goals
- 3 goals
- 2 goals
- 1 goal
- Own goals
Notes
- ^ Libya played their home leg in Tunisia due to the Libyan Civil War.
- ^ a b The first leg between Senegal and Guinea was postponed to mid-week to avoid a clash with general assembly elections.[13] The second leg was also postponed to mid-week as a result. It was originally to be played on 22 August, but was postponed to the next day due to heavy rain.[14]
- ^ Somalia played their home leg in Djibouti due to the Somali Civil War.[16]
- ^ a b The first leg between Burundi and Sudan was postponed by a week to allow Sudan to travel to Burundi following the lifting of the suspension of the Sudan Football Association on 13 July.[18] The second leg was also postponed by a week as a result.
References
External links
|
---|
Tournaments | |
---|
Qualification | |
---|
Finals | |
---|
Squads | |
---|