Wikiwand AI

2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualification

International football competition From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualification matches were 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 concluded with the group stage, which was played in September, October and November, all in 2024. A total of 24 teams qualified to play in the final tournament, including automatically-qualified hosts Morocco.

Dates20 March – 19 November 2024
Teams52 (from 1 confederation)
Matchesplayed151
Goals scored331 (2.19 per match)
Quick facts Tournament details, Dates ...
2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualification
Tournament details
Dates20 March – 19 November 2024
Teams52 (from 1 confederation)
Tournament statistics
Matches played151
Goals scored331 (2.19 per match)
Top scorer(s)Morocco Brahim Díaz
(7 goals)
← 2023
2027 →
Close

Entrants

All CAF member associations entered the competition, except Eritrea and Seychelles, who were excluded from the qualifiers. The seeding was based on the FIFA World Ranking from 15 February 2024, with teams ranked 1st to 44th received a bye to the qualifying group stage, while the teams ranked 45th to 52nd had to participate in the preliminary round.[1]

The preliminary round draw was held on 20 February 2024, 14:00 CAT (UTC+2) at the CAF headquarters in Cairo, Egypt.[2]

For the first time since their suspensions, Kenya and Zimbabwe made their phased returns to the qualifying stage.

More information Bye to group stage, Participating in preliminary round ...
From the February 2024 FIFA World Rankings[3]
Bye to group stage Participating in preliminary round
  1.  Morocco (12; hosts)
  2.  Senegal (17)
  3.  Nigeria (28)
  4.  Egypt (36)
  5.  Ivory Coast (39)
  6.  Tunisia (41)
  7.  Algeria (43)
  8.  Mali (47)
  9.  Cameroon (51)
  10.  South Africa (58)
  11.  Burkina Faso (61)
  12.  DR Congo (63)
  13.  Cape Verde (65)
  14.  Ghana (67)
  15.  Guinea (76)
  16.  Equatorial Guinea (79)
  17.  Gabon (84)
  18.  Zambia (87)
  19.  Uganda (92)
  20.  Angola (93)
  21.  Benin (98)
  22.  Mauritania (106)
  23.  Namibia (107)
  24.  Madagascar (109)
  25.  Mozambique (110)
  26.  Kenya (111)
  27.  Congo (112)
  28.  Togo (116)
  29.  Guinea-Bissau (118)
  30.  Tanzania (119)
  31.  Libya (120)
  32.  Comoros (121)
  33.  Malawi (122)
  34.  Zimbabwe (124)
  35.  Sierra Leone (126)
  36.  Sudan (127)
  37.  Niger (128)
  38.  Central African Republic (129)
  39.  Gambia (130)
  40.  Rwanda (133)
  41.  Burundi (140)
  42.  Ethiopia (145)
  43.  Botswana (146)
  44.  Lesotho (148)
  1.  Eswatini (149)
  2.  Liberia (152)
  3.  South Sudan (166)
  4.  Mauritius (177)
  5.  Chad (181)
  6.  São Tomé and Príncipe (191)
  7.  Djibouti (192)
  8.  Somalia (198)
Close

Schedule

The schedule of the qualifying tournament was as follows.[4]

More information Round, Matchday ...
Round Matchday Dates Matches
Preliminary round First leg 20–22 March 2024 Team 1 vs. Team 2
Second leg 26 March 2024 Team 2 vs. Team 1
Group stage Matchday 1 2–10 September 2024 Team 1 vs. Team 2, Team 3 vs. Team 4
Matchday 2 Team 2 vs. Team 3, Team 4 vs. Team 1
Matchday 3 7–15 October 2024 Team 1 vs. Team 3, Team 2 vs. Team 4
Matchday 4 Team 3 vs. Team 1, Team 4 vs. Team 2
Matchday 5 11–19 November 2024 Team 2 vs. Team 1, Team 4 vs. Team 3
Matchday 6 Team 3 vs. Team 2, Team 1 vs. Team 4
Close

Preliminary round

Main article: 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualification preliminary round

The eight teams were split into four ties which were played in home-and-away two-legged format.[2]

More information Team 1, Agg. Tooltip Aggregate score ...
Team 1Agg. Tooltip Aggregate scoreTeam 21st leg2nd leg
Somalia 2–5 Eswatini0–32–2
São Tomé and Príncipe 1–1 (a) South Sudan1–10–0
Chad 3–1 Mauritius1–02–1
Djibouti 0–2 Liberia0–20–0
Close

Group stage

Draw

The group stage draw took place on 4 July 2024 at 2:30 pm (UTC+2) in Johannesburg, South Africa. The 48 national teams involved were divided into twelve groups of four each, which consisted of the 44 teams that entered directly, in addition to the four winners of the preliminary round, and were seeded into four pots of twelve each based on the June 2024 FIFA World Rankings (shown in parentheses).[5][6]

Teams in bold qualified for the final tournament.

More information Pot 1, Pot 2 ...
Pot 1 Pot 2 Pot 3 Pot 4

 Morocco (12; hosts)
 Senegal (18)
 Egypt (36)
 Ivory Coast (37)
 Nigeria (38)
 Tunisia (41)
 Algeria (44)
 Cameroon (49)
 Mali (50)
 South Africa (59)
 DR Congo (61)
 Ghana (64)

 Cape Verde (65)
 Burkina Faso (67)
 Guinea (77)
 Gabon (83)
 Equatorial Guinea (89)
 Zambia (90)
 Benin (91)
 Angola (92)
 Uganda (94)
 Namibia (97)
 Mozambique (103)
 Madagascar (104)

 Kenya (108)
 Mauritania (112)
 Congo (113)
 Tanzania (114)
 Guinea-Bissau (115)
 Libya (118)
 Comoros (119)
 Togo (120)
 Sudan (121)
 Sierra Leone (122)
 Malawi (125)
 Central African Republic (127)

 Niger (128)
 Zimbabwe (129)
 Rwanda (131)
 Gambia (132)
 Burundi (140)
 Liberia (142)
 Ethiopia (143)
 Botswana (145)
 Lesotho (149)
 Eswatini (154)
 South Sudan (167)
 Chad (178)

Close

Tiebreakers

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):

  1. Points in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
  2. Goal difference in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
  3. Goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
  4. Away goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
  5. If more than two teams were tied, and after applying all head-to-head criteria above, a subset of teams were still tied, all head-to-head criteria above were reapplied exclusively to this subset of teams;
  6. Goal difference in all group matches;
  7. Goals scored in all group matches;
  8. Away goals scored in all group matches;
  9. Drawing of lots

Group A

Main article: 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualification Group A
More information Pos, Pld ...
Pos Team
 Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Comoros 6 3 3 0 7 4 +3 12 Final tournament — 1–1 1–1 1–0
2  Tunisia 6 3 1 2 7 6 +1 10 0–1 — 0–1 1–0
3  Gambia 6 2 2 2 6 6 0 8 1–2 1–2 — 1–0
4  Madagascar 6 0 2 4 4 8 −4 2 1–1 2–3 1–1 —
Close
Source: CAF

Group B

Main article: 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualification Group B
More information Pos, Pld ...
Pos Team
 Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Morocco[a] 6 6 0 0 26 2 +24 18 Final tournament — 4–1 7–0 5–0
2  Gabon 6 3 1 2 7 9 −2 10 1–5 — 0–0 2–0
3  Lesotho 6 1 1 4 2 13 −11 4 0–1 0–2 — 1–0
4  Central African Republic 6 1 0 5 3 14 −11 3 0–4 0–1 3–1 —
Close
Source: CAF
Notes:
  1. [a]
    Morocco had already qualified for the final tournament as the host nation.

Group C

Main article: 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualification Group C
More information Pos, Pld ...
Pos Team
 Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Egypt 6 4 2 0 12 2 +10 14 Final tournament — 1–1 2–0 3–0
2  Botswana 6 2 2 2 4 7 −3 8 0–4 — 1–1 1–0
3  Mauritania 6 2 1 3 3 6 −3 7 0–1 1–0 — 1–0
4  Cape Verde 6 1 1 4 3 7 −4 4 1–1 0–1 2–0 —
Close
Source: CAF

Group D

Main article: 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualification Group D
More information Pos, Pld ...
Pos Team
 Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Nigeria 6 3 2 1 9 3 +6 11 Final tournament — 3–0 1–2 1–0
2  Benin 6 2 2 2 7 7 0 8[a] 1–1 — 3–0 2–1
3  Rwanda 6 2 2 2 5 7 −2 8[a] 0–0 2–1 — 0–1
4  Libya 6 1 2 3 3 7 −4 5 0–3[b] 0–0 1–1 —
Close
Source: CAF
Notes:
  1. [a]
    Head-to-head points: Benin 3, Rwanda 3. Head-to-head goal difference: Benin +2, Rwanda –2.
  2. [b]
    Nigeria were awarded a 3–0 win after the match did not take place: upon their arrival in Libya, the Nigerian team were stranded at the airport for over 12 hours, with their federation ultimately refusing to play the match before flying the team back home.[7]

Group E

Main article: 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualification Group E
More information Pos, Pld ...
Pos Team
 Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Algeria 6 5 1 0 16 2 +14 16 Final tournament — 2–0 5–1 5–1
2  Equatorial Guinea 6 2 2 2 5 8 −3 8 0–0 — 2–2 1–0
3  Togo 6 1 2 3 7 10 −3 5 0–1 3–0 — 1–1
4  Liberia 6 1 1 4 4 12 −8 4 0–3 1–2 1–0 —
Close
Source: CAF

Group F

Main article: 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualification Group F
More information Pos, Pld ...
Pos Team
 Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Angola 6 4 2 0 7 2 +5 14 Final tournament — 2–1 2–0 1–1
2  Sudan 6 2 2 2 4 6 −2 8 0–0 — 1–0 2–0
3  Niger 6 2 1 3 7 6 +1 7 0–1 4–0 — 1–1
4  Ghana 6 0 3 3 3 7 −4 3 0–1 0–0 1–2 —
Close
Source: CAF

Group G

Main article: 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualification Group G
More information Pos, Pld ...
Pos Team
 Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Zambia 6 4 1 1 7 4 +3 13 Final tournament — 1–0 3–2 0–0
2  Ivory Coast 6 4 0 2 12 3 +9 12 2–0 — 4–1 4–0
3  Sierra Leone 6 1 2 3 5 10 −5 5 0–2 1–0 — 0–0
4  Chad 6 0 3 3 1 8 −7 3 0–1 0–2 1–1 —
Close
Source: CAF

Group H

Main article: 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualification Group H
More information Pos, Pld ...
Pos Team
 Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  DR Congo 6 4 0 2 7 3 +4 12 Final tournament — 1–0 1–0 1–2
2  Tanzania 6 3 1 2 5 4 +1 10 0–2 — 1–0 0–0
3  Guinea 6 3 0 3 9 5 +4 9 1–0 1–2 — 4–1
4  Ethiopia 6 1 1 4 3 12 −9 4 0–2 0–2 0–3 —
Close
Source: CAF

Group I

Main article: 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualification Group I
More information Pos, Pld ...
Pos Team
 Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Mali 6 4 2 0 10 1 +9 14 Final tournament — 1–1 1–0 6–0
2  Mozambique 6 3 2 1 9 5 +4 11 0–1 — 2–1 1–1
3  Guinea-Bissau 6 1 2 3 4 6 −2 5 0–0 1–2 — 1–0
4  Eswatini 6 0 2 4 2 13 −11 2 0–1 0–3 1–1 —
Close
Source: CAF

Group J

Main article: 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualification Group J
More information Pos, Pld ...
Pos Team
 Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Cameroon 6 4 2 0 8 2 +6 14 Final tournament — 2–1 4–1 1–0
2  Zimbabwe 6 2 3 1 6 4 +2 9 0–0 — 1–1 3–1
3  Kenya 6 1 3 2 4 7 −3 6 0–1 0–0 — 0–0
4  Namibia 6 0 2 4 2 7 −5 2 0–0 0–1 1–2 —
Close
Source: CAF

Group K

Main article: 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualification Group K
More information Pos, Pld ...
Pos Team
 Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  South Africa 6 4 2 0 16 5 +11 14 Final tournament — 2–2 5–0 3–0
2  Uganda 6 4 1 1 8 5 +3 13 0–2 — 2–0 1–0
3  Congo 6 1 1 4 4 12 −8 4 1–1 0–1 — 1–0
4  South Sudan 6 1 0 5 6 12 −6 3 2–3 1–2 3–2 —
Close
Source: CAF
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers

Group L

Main article: 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualification Group L
More information Pos, Pld ...
Pos Team
 Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Senegal 6 5 1 0 10 1 +9 16 Final tournament — 1–1 2–0 4–0
2  Burkina Faso 6 3 1 2 10 7 +3 10 0–1 — 4–1 3–1
3  Burundi 6 1 1 4 4 11 −7 4[a] 0–1 0–2 — 0–0
4  Malawi 6 1 1 4 6 11 −5 4[a] 0–1 3–0 2–3 —
Close
Source: CAF
Notes:
  1. [a]
    Head-to-head points: Burundi 4, Malawi 1.

Goalscorers

There were 331 goals scored in 151 matches, for an average of 2.19 goals per match.

7 goals

6 goals

4 goals

3 goals

2 goals

1 goal

1 own goal

Qualified teams

The following teams qualified for the final tournament.

  Team qualified
  Team failed to qualify
  Team banned or did not enter
  Not a member of CAF
More information Team, Qualified as ...
Team Qualified as Qualified on Previous appearances in Africa Cup of Nations1
 MoroccoHosts / Group B winners27 September 202319 (1972, 1976, 1978, 1980, 1986, 1988, 1992, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2012, 2013, 2017, 2019, 2021, 2023)
 Burkina FasoGroup L runners-up13 October 202413 (1978, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2021, 2023)
 CameroonGroup J winners14 October 202421 (1970, 1972, 1982, 1984, 1986, 1988, 1990, 1992, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2021, 2023)
 AlgeriaGroup E winners14 October 202420 (1968, 1980, 1982, 1984, 1986, 1988, 1990, 1992, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2010, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2021, 2023)
 DR CongoGroup H winners15 October 202420 (1965, 1968, 1970, 1972, 1974, 1976, 1988, 1992, 1994, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2023)
 SenegalGroup L winners15 October 202417 (1965, 1968, 1986, 1990, 1992, 1994, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2012, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2021, 2023)
 EgyptGroup C winners15 October 202426 (1957, 1959, 1962, 1963, 1970, 1974, 1976, 1980, 1984, 1986, 1988, 1990, 1992, 1994, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2017, 2019, 2021, 2023)
 AngolaGroup F winners15 October 20249 (1996, 1998, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2019, 2023)
 Equatorial GuineaGroup E runners-up13 November 20244 (2012, 2015, 2021, 2023)
 Ivory CoastGroup G runners-up13 November 202425 (1965, 1968, 1970, 1974, 1980, 1984, 1986, 1988, 1990, 1992, 1994, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2021, 2023)
 GabonGroup B runners-up14 November 20248 (1994, 1996, 2000, 2010, 2012, 2015, 2017, 2021)
 UgandaGroup K runners-up14 November 20247 (1962, 1968, 1974, 1976, 1978, 2017, 2019)
 South AfricaGroup K winners14 November 202411 (1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2013, 2015, 2019, 2023)
 TunisiaGroup A runners-up14 November 202421 (1962, 1963, 1965, 1978, 1982, 1994, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2021, 2023)
 NigeriaGroup D winners14 November 202420 (1963, 1976, 1978, 1980, 1982, 1984, 1988, 1990, 1992, 1994, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2013, 2019, 2021, 2023)
 MaliGroup I winners15 November 202413 (1972, 1994, 2002, 2004, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2021, 2023)
 ZambiaGroup G winners15 November 202418 (1974, 1978, 1982, 1986, 1990, 1992, 1994, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2023)
 ZimbabweGroup J runners-up15 November 20245 (2004, 2006, 2017, 2019, 2021)
 ComorosGroup A winners15 November 20241 (2021)
 SudanGroup F runners-up18 November 20249 (1957, 1959, 1963, 1970, 1972, 1976, 2008, 2012, 2021)
 BeninGroup D runners-up18 November 20244 (2004, 2008, 2010, 2019)
 TanzaniaGroup H runners-up19 November 20243 (1980, 2019, 2023)
 BotswanaGroup C runners-up19 November 20241 (2012)
 MozambiqueGroup I runners-up19 November 20245 (1986, 1996, 1998, 2010, 2023)
Close
1 Bold indicates champions for that year. Italics indicates hosts for that year.

References

Related Articles

Timelines

Top Qs

Fact Checks