2014 FIFA World Cup qualification (CAF)
International football competition
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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.
| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Dates | 11 November 2011 – 19 November 2013 |
| Teams | 52 (from 1 confederation) |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 152 |
| Goals scored | 389 (2.56 per match) |
| Attendance | 2,887,430 (18,996 per match) |
| Top scorer(s) |  Mohamed Aboutrika Mohamed Salah Asamoah Gyan(6 Goals) |
← 2010 2018 → | |
Format
Fifty-two out of the 53 national associations affiliated to CAF entered the qualifying to determine the continent's five slots for the next World Cup.[1]
The proposed format, announced on 16 May 2011, began in November 2011 with the first round of 12 two-legged knock-out ties. The ties, involving the 24 lowest-ranked teams according to FIFA World Rankings, were drawn in Brazil on 30 July 2011.
The 12 winners joined the remaining 28 CAF entrants in the second round, which consists of 10 groups of 4. The winners of each group – held between June 2012 and September 2013 – advanced to the third round of 5 two-legged knock-out ties. The 5 winners of these ties – held in October and November 2013 – advanced to the 2014 FIFA World Cup finals.
Entrants
The July 2011 FIFA Ranking were used to seed the teams for the first two rounds, both of which were drawn in Brazil on 30 July 2011.[2] (World rankings shown in brackets)[3]
| Bye to second round (ranked 1st to 28th) |
Competing in first round (ranked 29th to 52nd) |
|---|---|
|
|
- Notes
Mauritania did not participate in the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifiers.[4]
First round
The first round consisted of 12 home-and-away ties, featured the 24 lowest ranked teams in Africa. The ties were drawn at the World Cup Preliminary Draw at the Marina da Glória in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on 30 July 2011. The winners of these series proceeded to the second round.
Seeding
The July 2011 FIFA Ranking was used to seed the teams.
Matches
The first legs were scheduled for 11–12 November 2011, with the second legs on 15–16 November 2011.
| Team 1 | Agg. | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Seychelles  |
0–7 |  Kenya |
0–3 | 0–4 |
Guinea-Bissau  |
1–2 |  Togo |
1–1 | 0–1 |
Djibouti  |
0–8 |  Namibia |
0–4 | 0–4 |
Mauritius  |
w/o |  Liberia |
— | — |
Comoros  |
1–5 |  Mozambique |
0–1 | 1–4 |
Equatorial Guinea  |
3–2 |  Madagascar |
2–0 | 1–2 |
Somalia  |
0–5 |  Ethiopia |
0–0 | 0–5 |
Lesotho  |
3–2 |  Burundi |
1–0 | 2–2 |
Eritrea  |
2–4 |  Rwanda |
1–1 | 1–3 |
Swaziland  |
2–8 |  DR Congo |
1–3 | 1–5 |
São Tomé and Príncipe  |
1–6 |  Congo |
0–5 | 1–1 |
Chad  |
2–2 (a) |  Tanzania |
1–2 | 1–0 |
Second round
The second round saw the top 28 ranked CAF teams joined by the 12 winners from the first round. These teams were drawn into ten groups of four teams at the World Cup Preliminary Draw at the Marina da Glória in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on 30 July 2011. The matches were played from 1 June 2012 to 7 September 2013. The top team from each group advanced to the third round.
Seeding
The July 2011 FIFA Ranking was used to seed the teams.
† First round winners whose identity was not known at the time of the draw
Groups
Cameroon were suspended by FIFA on 4 July 2013 for government interference.[6] The suspension was lifted on 22 July 2013.[7]
Group A
Notes:
- Awarded
Group B
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |  |
 |
 |
| |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tunisia |
6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 13 | 6 | +7 | 14 | Third round | — | 3–0[a] | 2–1 | 3–1 | |
| 2 | Cape Verde |
6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 9 | 7 | +2 | 9 | 1–2 | — | 1–0 | 3–0[a] | ||
| 3 | Sierra Leone |
6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 10 | 10 | 0 | 8 | 2–2 | 2–1 | — | 3–2 | ||
| 4 | Equatorial Guinea |
6 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 15 | −9 | 2 | 1–1 | 0–3[a] | 2–2 | — |
Notes:
- Awarded
Group C
Group D
Notes:
- Awarded
Group E
Notes:
- Awarded
Group F
Group G
Group H
Group I
Notes:
- Awarded
Group J
Notes:
- Awarded
Third round
The third round saw the 10 group winners from the second round drawn into five home and away ties. The winners of each tie advanced to the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.
Seeding
The draw of the play-offs was held on 16 September 2013 at the CAF headquarters in Cairo.[9] The teams were seeded based on the September 2013 edition of the FIFA Ranking (shown below in brackets).[10][11]
| Pot 1 | Pot 2 |
|---|---|
|
|
|
Matches
The matches were played in the periods of 11–15 October and 16–19 November 2013.[2][12]
Qualified teams
The following five teams from CAF qualified for the final tournament.
| Team | Qualified as | Qualified on | Previous appearances in FIFA World Cup1 |
|---|---|---|---|
 Ivory Coast | third round winners | 16 November 2013 | 2 (2006, 2010) |
 Nigeria | third round winners | 16 November 2013 | 4 (1994, 1998, 2002, 2010) |
 Cameroon | third round winners | 17 November 2013 | 6 (1982, 1990, 1994, 1998, 2002, 2010) |
| Ghana | third round winners | 19 November 2013 | 2 (2006, 2010) |
 Algeria | third round winners | 19 November 2013 | 3 (1982, 1986, 2010) |
- 1 Bold indicates champions for that year. Italic indicates hosts for that year.
Top goalscorers
There were 389 goals scored in 152 matches, for an average of 2.56 goals per match.
6 goals
5 goals
4 goals
Below are full goalscorer lists for each round: