2022 African Nations Championship qualification

The 2022 African Nations Championship qualification was a men's football competition which decided the participating teams of the 2022 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 18 teams qualified to play in the final tournament, including Algeria which qualified automatically as hosts.

Teams

A total of 42 (out of 54) CAF member national teams entered the qualifying rounds, split into zones according to their regional affiliations. The draw for the qualifying rounds was held on 26 May 2022 at the CAF headquarters in Cairo, Egypt.

Zone	Spots (total 18)	Teams entering qualification	Did not enter
Northern Zone (UNAF)	2 spots+  Algeria (hosts)	Libya  Morocco	Tunisia  Egypt
Western Zone A (WAFU-UFOA A)	3 spots	Cape Verde  Guinea  Guinea-Bissau  Liberia  Mali  Mauritania  Senegal  Gambia  Sierra Leone
Western Zone B (WAFU-UFOA B)	3 spots	Benin  Burkina Faso  Ghana  Ivory Coast  Niger  Nigeria  Togo
Central Zone (UNIFFAC)	3 spots	Central African Republic  Chad  Congo  DR Congo  Equatorial Guinea  Cameroon	São Tomé and Príncipe  Gabon
Central Eastern Zone (CECAFA)	3 spots	Burundi  Djibouti  Ethiopia  Rwanda  Somalia  South Sudan  Sudan  Tanzania  Uganda	Eritrea  Kenya
Southern Zone (COSAFA)	3 spots	Angola  Botswana  Comoros  Eswatini  Madagascar  Malawi  Mauritius  Mozambique  Seychelles  South Africa  Zambia  Zimbabwe	Namibia  Lesotho

Notes

• Teams in bold qualified for the final tournament.
• Teams in italics received a bye to the second round in the qualifying draw.
• (W): Withdrew after draw

Format

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).^[1]

Schedule

The schedule of the qualifying rounds was as follows.

Zone / Round		Matchday	Date
Western Zone A Western Zone B Central Zone Central Eastern Zone	Southern Zone
First round	First round	First leg	22–24 July 2022
		Second leg	26–31 July 2022
Second round	Second round	First leg	26–29 August 2022
		Second leg	2–4 September 2022

Northern Zone

Algeria qualified as host nation.

After Egypt and Tunisia withdrew before the draw, Libya and Morocco were the only teams entered: therefore, the Zone was scratched and both teams qualified.

Western Zone A

First round

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Liberia	2–4	Senegal	0–3	2–1
Sierra Leone	3–2	Cape Verde	2–0	1–2
Gambia	1–1 (3–5 p)	Guinea-Bissau	1–0	0–1

Senegal won 4–2 on aggregate.

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Sierra Leone won 3–2 on aggregate.

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1–1 on aggregate. Guinea-Bissau won 5–3 on penalties.

Second round

Winners qualified for 2022 African Nations Championship.

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Senegal	1–1 (5–3 p)	Guinea	1–0	0–1
Sierra Leone	1–4	Mali	1–2	0–2
Guinea-Bissau	0–2	Mauritania	0–1	0–1

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Western Zone B

First round

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Ghana	4–0	Benin	3–0	1–0

Ghana won 4–0 on aggregate.

Second round

Winners qualified for 2022 African Nations Championship.

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Ivory Coast	0–0 (5–3 p)	Burkina Faso	0–0	0–0
Togo	2–3	Niger	1–0	1–3
Ghana	2–2 (5–4 p)	Nigeria	2–0	0–2

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Central Zone

Winners qualified for 2022 African Nations Championship.

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Central African Republic	2–2	Congo	2–1	0–1
Equatorial Guinea	1–2	Cameroon	1–0	0–2
Chad	1–7	DR Congo	1–2	0–5

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Central Eastern Zone

First round

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Ethiopia	5–0	South Sudan	0–0	5–0
Somalia	1–3	Tanzania	0–1	1–2
Burundi	3–3 (2–4 p)	Djibouti	2–1	1–2

Ethiopia won 5–0 on aggregate.

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Tanzania won 3–1 on aggregate.

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3–3 on aggregate. Djibouti won 4–2 on penalties.

Second round

Winners qualified for 2022 African Nations Championship.

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Ethiopia	1–0	Rwanda	0–0	1–0
Tanzania	0–4	Uganda	0–1	0–3
Djibouti	3–7	Sudan	1–4	2–3

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Southern Zone

First round

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Mauritius	0–3	Angola	0–2	0–1
Comoros	0–1	South Africa	0–1	0–0
Botswana	2–2 (a)	Eswatini	0–0	2–2
Seychelles	0–4	Madagascar	0–1	0–3
Malawi	awd.	Zimbabwe	Cancelled	Cancelled
Mozambique	1–0	Zambia	0–0	1–0

Angola won 3–0 on aggregate.

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South Africa won 1–0 on aggregate.

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2–2 on aggregate. Botswana won on away goals rule.

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Madagascar won 4–0 on aggregate.

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Malawi advanced on walkover.

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Mozambique won 1–0 on aggregate.

Second round

Winners qualified for 2022 African Nations Championship.

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Angola	6–1	South Africa	2–0	4–1
Botswana	1–2	Madagascar	0–1	1–1
Malawi	1–1	Mozambique	1–1	0–0

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Qualified teams

The following 18 teams qualified for the final tournament.

Team	Qualifying zone	Qualified on	Previous appearances in African Nations Championship1
Algeria (hosts)	Northern Zone	29 September 2018	1 (2011)
Morocco		26 May 2022	4 (2014, 2016, 2018, 2020)
Libya		26 May 2022	4 (2009, 2014, 2018, 2020)
Senegal	Western Zone A	2 September 2022	2 (2009, 2011)
Mauritania		2 September 2022	2 (2014, 2018)
Mali		3 September 2022	4 (2011, 2014, 2016, 2020)
Niger	Western Zone B	3 September 2022	3 (2011, 2016, 2020)
Ghana		3 September 2022	3 (2009, 2011, 2014)
Ivory Coast		4 September 2022	4 (2009, 2011, 2016, 2018)
DR Congo	Central Zone	4 September 2022	5 (2009, 2011, 2014, 2016, 2020)
Congo		4 September 2022	3 (2014, 2018, 2020)
Cameroon		4 September 2022	4 (2011, 2016, 2018, 2020)
Sudan	Central Eastern Zone	2 September 2022	2 (2011, 2018)
Ethiopia		3 September 2022	2 (2014, 2016)
Uganda		3 September 2022	5 (2011, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2020)
Madagascar	Southern Zone	2 September 2022	0 (Debut)
Angola		4 September 2022	3 (2011, 2016, 2018)
Mozambique		4 September 2022	1 (2014)

Goalscorers

There were 105 goals scored in 54 matches, for an average of 1.94 goals per match.

3 goals

2 goals

1 goal

1 own goal

References

External links

• — qualifiers schedule
• Total African Nations Championship, CAFonline.com
  • Qualifiers – Central-Eastern Zone
  • Qualifiers – Central Zone
  • Qualifiers – North Zone
  • Qualifiers – Southern Zone
  • Qualifiers – West Zone A
  • Qualifiers – West Zone B