2021_Africa_Cup_of_Nations_qualification
2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualification
International football competition
The 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualification matches were organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) to decide the participating teams of the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations, the 33rd edition of the international men's football championship of Africa. A total of 24 teams qualified to play in the final tournament, including Cameroon who qualified automatically as hosts.
| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Dates | 9 October 2019 – 15 June 2021 |
| Teams | 52 (from 1 confederation) |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 150 |
| Goals scored | 335 (2.23 per match) |
| Top scorer(s) |  Victor Osimhen Patson Daka(5 goals each) |
← 2019 2023 → | |
The draw took place on 18 July 2019, 18:30 CAT (UTC+2), in Cairo, Egypt.[1] A total of 52 teams entered the tournament, including the hosts Cameroon, while Eritrea and Somalia chose to not enter the qualifiers.
Seeding
The teams were seeded based upon their June 2019 FIFA World Rankings (ranking shown in parentheses).[2] All 44 teams from Pot 1 to Pot 4 entered the competition at the group stage, while teams from Pot 5 had to compete at the preliminary round in order to advance to the group stage.
Each group contained one team from Pot 1, 2 and 3. Groups from A to D contained a winning team from the preliminary round, while groups from E to L contained a team from Pot 4. Teams in bold qualified for the final tournament.
| Pot | Pot 1 | Pot 2 | Pot 3 | Pot 4 | Pot 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Teams |
|
|
|
The schedule of the qualifying competition was as follows. After the rescheduling of the final tournament from June/July to January/February, the dates of matchdays 3–6 of the group stage were also rescheduled.[3]
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all matches of matchdays 3 and 4 scheduled for March 2020 were postponed until further notice.[4] FIFA recommended that all June 2020 international matches (matchday 5) be postponed,[5] and also postponed the September 2020 window (matchday 6) for CAF.[6]
On 30 June 2020, the CAF announced the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations final tournament had been postponed from January 2021 to January 2022, without announcing the new dates of the remaining qualifiers.[7] On 19 August 2020, CAF announced the second revised dates for both Africa Cup of Nations and FIFA World Cup qualifiers.[8]
| Round | Matchday | Dates | Matches | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Original dates | Revised dates | Second revised dates | |||
| Preliminary round | First leg | 9 October 2019 | Team 1 vs. Team 2 | ||
| Second leg | 13 October 2019 | Team 2 vs. Team 1 | |||
| Group stage | Matchday 1 | 13–16 November 2019 | Team 1 vs. Team 2, Team 3 vs. Team 4 | ||
| Matchday 2 | 17–19 November 2019 | Team 4 vs. Team 1, Team 2 vs. Team 3 | |||
| Matchday 3 | 31 August – 8 September 2020 | 23–31 March 2020 | 9–17 November 2020 | Team 1 vs. Team 3, Team 2 vs. Team 4 | |
| Matchday 4 | Team 3 vs. Team 1, Team 4 vs. Team 2 | ||||
| Matchday 5 | 5–13 October 2020 | 1–9 June 2020 | 22–30 March 2021, 15 June 2021 | Team 2 vs. Team 1, Team 4 vs. Team 3 | |
| Matchday 6 | 9–17 November 2020 | 31 August – 8 September 2020 | Team 1 vs. Team 4, Team 3 vs. Team 2 | ||
All eight teams from Pot 5 were drawn into four ties and played in home-and-away two-legged format. The four winners advanced to the group stage to join the 44 teams which entered directly. They went to positions A4, B4, C4 and D4 respectively based on their tie number.
The 48 teams were drawn into twelve groups of four teams (from Group A to Group L). Teams consisted of the 44 teams which entered directly, in addition to the four winners of the preliminary round whose identity was not known at the time of the draw.
The 2021 Africa Cup of Nations hosts, Cameroon, participated in the qualifiers with the team guaranteed a spot in the finals regardless of its ranking in the group. Their matches and results counted in determining the qualification of the other teams from their group. If Cameroon had finished out of top two teams in their group, a group runner-up would not have qualified for the main tournament.
- 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):
- Points in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
- Goal difference in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
- Goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
- Away goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
- 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;
- Goal difference in all group matches;
- Goals scored in all group matches;
- Away goals scored in all group matches;
- Drawing of lots.
Group A
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |  |
 |
 |
 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mali |
6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 4 | +6 | 13 | Final tournament | — | 2–2 | 1–0 | 3–0[lower-alpha 1] | |
| 2 | Guinea |
6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 8 | 5 | +3 | 11 | 1–0 | — | 2–0 | 1–0 | ||
| 3 | Namibia |
6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 8 | 7 | +1 | 9 | 1–2 | 2–1 | — | 2–1 | ||
| 4 | Chad |
6 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 12 | −10 | 1 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 0–3[lower-alpha 1] | — |
Notes:
Group B
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |  |
 |
 |
 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Burkina Faso |
6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 2 | +4 | 12 | Final tournament | — | 3–1 | 0–0 | 1–0 | |
| 2 | Malawi |
6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 5 | −1 | 10 | 0–0 | — | 1–0 | 1–0 | ||
| 3 | Uganda |
6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | +1 | 8 | 0–0 | 2–0 | — | 1–0 | ||
| 4 | South Sudan |
6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 2 | 6 | −4 | 3 | 1–2 | 0–1 | 1–0 | — |
Group C
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |  |
 |
 |
 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ghana |
6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 3 | +6 | 13 | Final tournament | — | 2–0 | 2–0 | 3–1 | |
| 2 | Sudan |
6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 9 | 3 | +6 | 12 | 1–0 | — | 2–0 | 4–0 | ||
| 3 | South Africa |
6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 8 | 7 | +1 | 10 | 1–1 | 1–0 | — | 2–0 | ||
| 4 | São Tomé and Príncipe |
6 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 3 | 16 | −13 | 0 | 0–1 | 0–2 | 2–4 | — |
Group D
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |  |
 |
 |
 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gambia |
6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 9 | 7 | +2 | 10[lower-alpha 1] | Final tournament | — | 2–1 | 2–2 | 1–0 | |
| 2 | Gabon |
6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 8 | 6 | +2 | 10[lower-alpha 1] | 2–1 | — | 3–0 | 2–1 | ||
| 3 | DR Congo |
6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 5 | −1 | 9 | 1–0 | 0–0 | — | 0–0 | ||
| 4 | Angola |
6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 7 | −3 | 4 | 1–3 | 2–0 | 0–1 | — |
Notes:
Group E
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |  |
 |
 |
 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Morocco |
6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 10 | 1 | +9 | 14 | Final tournament | — | 0–0 | 1–0 | 4–1 | |
| 2 | Mauritania |
6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 4 | +1 | 9 | 0–0 | — | 1–1 | 2–0 | ||
| 3 | Burundi |
6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 10 | −4 | 5 | 0–3 | 3–1 | — | 2–2 | ||
| 4 | Central African Republic |
6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 11 | −6 | 4 | 0–2 | 0–1 | 2–0 | — |
Group F
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |  |
 |
 |
 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cameroon |
6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 8 | 4 | +4 | 11 | Final tournament | — | 0–0 | 0–0 | 4–1 | |
| 2 | Cape Verde |
6 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 6 | 3 | +3 | 10 | 3–1 | — | 0–0 | 2–2 | ||
| 3 | Rwanda |
6 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 3 | −2 | 6 | 0–1 | 0–0 | — | 1–0 | ||
| 4 | Mozambique |
6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 10 | −5 | 4 | 0–2 | 0–1 | 2–0 | — |
Group G
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |  |
 |
 |
 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Egypt |
6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 10 | 3 | +7 | 12 | Final tournament | — | 4–0 | 1–1 | 1–0 | |
| 2 | Comoros |
6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 6 | −2 | 9 | 0–0 | — | 2–1 | 0–0 | ||
| 3 | Kenya |
6 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 7 | 1–1 | 1–1 | — | 1–1 | ||
| 4 | Togo |
6 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 8 | −5 | 2 | 1–3 | 0–1 | 1–2 | — |
Group H
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |  |
 |
|
 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Algeria |
6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 19 | 6 | +13 | 14 | Final tournament | — | 3–1 | 5–0 | 5–0 | |
| 2 | Zimbabwe |
6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 8 | −2 | 8 | 2–2 | — | 0–2 | 0–0 | ||
| 3 | Zambia |
6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 8 | 12 | −4 | 7 | 3–3 | 1–2 | — | 2–1 | ||
| 4 | Botswana |
6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 9 | −7 | 4 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 1–0 | — |
Group I
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |  |
 |
 |
 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Senegal |
6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 10 | 2 | +8 | 14 | Final tournament | — | 2–0 | 2–0 | 1–1 | |
| 2 | Guinea-Bissau |
6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 9 | 7 | +2 | 9 | 0–1 | — | 3–0 | 3–0 | ||
| 3 | Congo |
6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 8 | 0–0 | 3–0 | — | 2–0 | ||
| 4 | Eswatini |
6 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 13 | −10 | 2 | 1–4 | 1–3 | 0–0 | — |
Group J
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |  |
 |
 |
 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tunisia |
6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 14 | 5 | +9 | 16 | Final tournament | — | 2–1 | 1–0 | 4–1 | |
| 2 | Equatorial Guinea |
6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 9 | 0–1 | — | 1–0 | 1–0 | ||
| 3 | Tanzania |
6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 6 | −1 | 7 | 1–1 | 2–1 | — | 1–0 | ||
| 4 | Libya |
6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 7 | 15 | −8 | 3 | 2–5 | 2–3 | 2–1 | — |
Group K
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |  |
 |
 |
 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ivory Coast |
6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 11 | 5 | +6 | 13 | Final tournament | — | 3–1 | 2–1 | 1–0 | |
| 2 | Ethiopia |
6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 10 | 6 | +4 | 9 | 2–1 | — | 4–0 | 3–0 | ||
| 3 | Madagascar |
6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 9 | 9 | 0 | 8 | 1–1 | 1–0 | — | 0–0 | ||
| 4 | Niger |
6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 13 | −10 | 4 | 0–3 | 1–0 | 2–6 | — |
Group L
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | |
 |
 |
 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nigeria |
6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 14 | 7 | +7 | 14 | Final tournament | — | 4–4 | 2–1 | 3–0 | |
| 2 | Sierra Leone |
6 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 7 | 0–0 | — | 1–0 | 1–1 | ||
| 3 | Benin |
6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 4 | −1 | 7 | 0–1 | 1–0 | — | 1–0 | ||
| 4 | Lesotho |
6 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 9 | −6 | 3 | 2–4 | 0–0 | 0–0 | — |
The following teams qualified for the final tournament.
- 1 Bold indicates champions for that year. Italics indicates hosts for that year.
There were 335 goals scored in 150 matches, for an average of 2.23 goals per match.
5 goals
4 goals
3 goals
2 goals
Youcef Belaïli- Sofiane Feghouli
- Islam Slimani
Jodel Dossou
Aristide Bancé- Lassina Traoré
Ryan Mendes
Ezechiel N'Douassel
Prince Ibara- Junior Makiesse
Afsha- Mohamed Salah
- Mohamed Sherif
Pedro Obiang
Shimelis Bekele- Amanuel Gebremichael
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang- Aaron Boupendza
Bubacarr Jobe
André Ayew- Jordan Ayew
Naby Keïta
Jorginho- Piqueti
Serge Aurier
Sanad Al Warfali- Muaid Ellafi
Lalaïna Nomenjanahary- Paulin Voavy
Richard Mbulu
Youssef En-Nesyri- Achraf Hakimi
Telinho
Peter Shalulile
Samuel Chukwueze- Paul Onuachu
Sadio Mané
Alhaji Kamara- Kwame Quee
Themba Zwane
Joseph Kuch
Seif Teiri
Simon Msuva
Khama Billiat
1 goal
- Ramy Bensebaini
- Farid Boulaya
- Andy Delort
- Rachid Ghezzal
- Aïssa Mandi
- Hillal Soudani
Loide Augusto- Wilson Eduardo
- Show
- Yano
- Stéphane Sessègnon
Mosha Gaolaolwe- Tumisang Orebonye
- Bryan Dabo
- Bertrand Traoré
Youssouf Ndayishimiye- Christophe Nduwarugira
Pierre Kunde- Clinton N'Jie
- Moumi Ngamaleu
- Serge Tabekou
- André-Frank Zambo Anguissa
- Kuca
- Garry Rodrigues
Vianney Mabidé- Ahmat Abdaraman
El Fardou Ben Nabouhane- Faiz Mattoir
- Youssouf M'Changama
- Faïz Selemani
- Silvère Ganvoula
Cédric Bakambu- Kazadi Kasengu
- Neeskens Kebano
- Jackson Muleka
Mahdi Houssein Mahabeh- Mahmoud Hamdy
- Mahmoud Kahraba
- Mohamed El Neny
- Trézéguet
- Josete Miranda
- Emilio Nsue
- Salomón Obama
- Iban Salvador
Felix Badenhorst- Sabelo Gamedze
- Fganelo Mamba
- Surafel Dagnachew
- Mohamed Mesud
- Abubeker Nassir
- Bruno Ecuele Manga
- Modou Barrow
- Musa Barrow
- Mamadou Danso
- Ablie Jallow
- Sulayman Marreh
- Bubacarr Sanneh
- Nicholas Opoku
- Thomas Partey
- Baba Rahman
- Mady Camara
- Sékou Condé
- Mamadou Kane
- José Kanté
- Seydouba Soumah
- Issiaga Sylla
- Marcelo Djaló
- João Mário
- Frédéric Mendy
- Pelé
- Alfa Semedo
- Willy Boly
- Gervinho
- Max Gradel
- Sébastien Haller
- Wilfried Kanon
- Jean Evrard Kouassi
Masoud Juma- Cliff Nyakeya
- Michael Olunga
- Johanna Omolo
Masoabi Nkoto- Jane Thabantso
Kpah Sherman- Mohamed Bettamer
- Hamdou Elhouni
- Anis Saltou
- Anicet Abel
- Ibrahim Amada
- Carolus Andriamatsinoro
- Jeremy Morel
- Rayan Raveloson
- Gabadinho Mhango
- Gerald Phiri
Mohamed Camara- Moussa Djenepo
- Moussa Doumbia
- Sékou Koïta
- Adama Traoré
- El Bilal Touré
Diallo Guidileye- Hacen
- Aboubakar Kamara
- Bakary N'Diaye
- Mamadou Niass
Ashley Nazira- Kevin Perticots
- Zakaria Aboukhlal
- Noussair Mazraoui
- Munir
- Kamo-Kamo
- Mexer
- Witi
- Elmo Kambindu
- Chris Katjiukua
Yussif Moussa- Youssef Oumarou
- Amadou Wonkoye
- Peter Etebo
- Samuel Kalu
Lague Byiringiro
Marcos Barbeiro- Harramiz
- Iniesta
- Jocy
- Ludgério Silva
- Habib Diallo
- Cheikhou Kouyaté
- Badou Ndiaye
- Opa Nguette
- Sidy Sarr
Nigel Hoareau- Mustapha Bundu
- Kei Kamara
- Lebogang Phiri
- Bongani Zungu
- Tito Okello
- Stephen Pawaar
- Koang Thok
- Ramadan Agab
- Mohamed El-Rasheed
- Ahmed Hamid
- Seifeldin Malik
- Salum Abubakar
- Feisal Salum
- Mbwana Samatta
Elom Nya-Vedji- Hakim Ouro-Sama
Mohamed Dräger- Youssef Msakni
- Ellyes Skhiri
- Anis Ben Slimane
Fahad Bayo- Halid Lwaliwa
- Emmanuel Okwi
Clatous Chama- Enock Mwepu
- Collins Sikombe
- Perfect Chikwende
- Prince Dube
- Tinotenda Kadewere
- Knowledge Musona
1 own goal
- Macky Bagnack (against Cape Verde)
- Mathieu Adoassou (against Namibia)
- Carlos Akapo (against Tunisia)
- Mohammed Mbye (against Djibouti)
- Issiaga Sylla (against Mali)
- Faisal Bangal (against Cape Verde)
- Chidozie Awaziem (against Lesotho)
- Jordão Diogo (against Sudan)
- Firas Chaouat (against Equatorial Guinea)
- "Draw for 2021 Africa Cup of Nations released". CAF. 18 July 2019. Retrieved 19 July 2019.
- "The FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking - Ranking Table". www.fifa.com. Archived from the original on June 16, 2019. Retrieved 4 July 2019.
- "CAF reschedules dates of Nations Cup and World Cup qualifiers". Ahram Online. 16 January 2020.
- "Total AFCON 2021 qualifiers postponed". CAF. 13 March 2020.
- "Dedicated COVID-19 working group proposes recommendations after first meeting". FIFA.com. 3 April 2020.
- "FIFA Council unanimously approves COVID-19 Relief Plan". FIFA.com. 25 June 2020.
- "Decisions of CAF Executive Meeting – 30 June 2020". CAF. 30 June 2020.
- "Cameroon 2021 qualifiers resume November, Qatar 2022 set for May 2021". CAF. 19 August 2020.
- "Chad disqualified from Total AFCON, Cameroon 2021 qualifications". CAF. 22 March 2021. Retrieved 22 March 2021.