This page details the qualifying process for the 1988 African Cup of Nations in Morocco. Morocco, as hosts, and Egypt, as title holders, qualified automatically.

Qualifying tournament

 Egypt qualified as holders

 Morocco qualified as hosts

Preliminary round

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Guinea	3–1	Gambia	2–1	1–0
Uganda	5–0	Somalia	5–0	0–0
Angola	1–1 (5–3 p)	Gabon	1–0	0–1
Central African Republic	2–7	Congo	1–2	1–5
Sierra Leone	3–2	Liberia	2–1	1–1
Ethiopia	w/o	Tanzania	4–2	—
Madagascar	w/o	Mauritius	—	—
Rwanda	w/o	Lesotho	—	—
Togo	w/o	Equatorial Guinea	—	—
Tunisia	w/o	Mali	—	—

16 August 1986

Guinea	2–1	Gambia

Conakry

30 August 1986

Gambia	0–1	Guinea

Independence Stadium, Bakau

Guinea won 3–1 on aggregate.

5 October 1986

Uganda	5–0	Somalia

Kampala

19 October 1986

Somalia	0–0	Uganda

Mogadishu Stadium, Mogadishu

Uganda won 5–0 on aggregate.

5 October 1986

Angola	1–0	Gabon
Bolingó

Estádio dos Coqueiros, Luanda

19 October 1986

Gabon	1–0	Angola
Anotho 68'
Penalties
	3–5

Stade Omar Bongo, Libreville

Angola won 5–3 on penalty shootout after 1–1 on aggregate.

5 October 1986

Central African Republic	1–2	Congo

Bangui

19 October 1986

Congo	5–1	Central African Republic

Stade de la Révolution, Brazzaville

Congo won 7–2 on aggregate.

5 October 1986

Sierra Leone	2–1	Liberia

Freetown

19 October 1986

Liberia	1–1	Sierra Leone

Monrovia

Sierra Leone won 3–2 on aggregate.

5 October 1986

Ethiopia	4–2	Tanzania

Addis Abeba Stadium, Addis Ababa

Tanzania	Cancelled	Ethiopia
		Withdrew

Tanzania advanced after Ethiopia withdrew.

Madagascar	Cancelled	Mauritius
		Withdrew

Madagascar advanced after Mauritius withdrew.

Rwanda	Cancelled	Lesotho
		Withdrew

Rwanda advanced after Lesotho withdrew.

Togo	Cancelled	Equatorial Guinea
		Withdrew

Togo advanced after Equatorial Guinea withdrew.

Tunisia	Cancelled	Mali
		Withdrew

Tunisia advanced after Mali withdrew.

First round

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Algeria	2–1	Tunisia	1–0	1–1
Kenya	3–2	Madagascar	2–0	1–2
Nigeria	3–1	Togo	2–0	1–1
Cameroon	6–4	Uganda	5–1	1–3
Ivory Coast	4–1	Congo	2–0	2–1
Mozambique	3–4	Zimbabwe	1–1	2–3
Senegal	4–0	Guinea	4–0	0–0
Sudan	2–1	Tanzania	1–0	1–1
Zaire	3–1	Angola	3–0	0–1
Ghana	1–2	Sierra Leone	1–2	0–0
Libya	w/o	Zambia	—	—
Malawi	w/o	Rwanda	—	—

27 March 1987

Algeria	1–0	Tunisia
Madjer 19' (pen.)

5 July Stadium, Algiers^[1]

Attendance: 35,000

Referee: Hassan Chafai (Morocco)

14 April 1987

Tunisia	1–1	Algeria
Rakbaoui 31'		Menad 38'

Stade El Menzah, Tunis

Attendance: 50,000

Referee: Mohamed Hussam El-Din (Egypt)

Algeria won 2–1 on aggregate.

28 March 1987

Kenya	2–0	Madagascar
Ayoyi 31' Magongo 41'

Mombasa Municipal Stadium, Mombasa

Referee: Yusuf Mohamed Sheikh (Egypt)

12 April 1987

Madagascar	2–1	Kenya
Yves 10' Velonosy 15'		Odembo 30'

Mahamasina Municipal Stadium, Antananarivo

Referee: John Nkathazo (Zimbabwe)

Kenya won 3–2 on aggregate.

28 March 1987

Nigeria	2–0	Togo
Okorowanta 17' Obobaifo 45'

Surulere Stadium, Lagos

Referee: Albert Agbovi (Ghana)

12 April 1987

Togo	1–1	Nigeria
? 36'		Edobor 90'

Lomé

Referee: François Boni Yapo (Ivory Coast)

Nigeria won 3–1 on aggregate.

29 March 1987

Cameroon	5–1	Uganda
Ekéké 12' Sinkot 21' Omam-Biyik 49', 52' Milla 67'		Nkata 34'

Stade Ahmadou Ahidjo, Yaoundé

Referee: Pierre Alain Mounguengui (Gabon)

11 April 1987

Uganda	3–1	Cameroon
Hasule 41' Mokiri 50' Bogere 69'		Omam-Biyik 79'

Kampala

Referee: Mohamed Abdelsalam Gasmalla (Sudan)

Cameroon won 6–4 on aggregate.

29 March 1987

Ivory Coast	2–0	Congo
Traoré Fofana

Stade Félix Houphouët-Boigny, Abidjan

Referee: Festus Okubule (Nigeria)

5 April 1987

Congo	1–2	Ivory Coast
Nkéoua		Traoré Fofana

Stade de la Révolution, Brazzaville

Referee: Laurent Pettcha (Cameroon)

Ivory Coast won 4–1 on aggregate.

29 March 1987

Mozambique	1–1	Zimbabwe
Chababe		Chunga 12'

Estádio da Machava, Maputo

Referee: Macnever Mang'anda (Malawi)

11 April 1987

Zimbabwe	3–2	Mozambique
Ndunduma 39' Tauro 63' Chawanda 75'		Chababe 29' Nico 62'

Rufaro Stadium, Harare

Referee: Wallace Mabuza (Swaziland)

Zimbabwe won 4–3 on aggregate.

29 March 1987

Senegal	4–0	Guinea
Sarr 24' (pen.), 72' Seck 46' Youm 90'

Dakar

Referee: Abdoulaye Sogue (Mauritania)

12 April 1987

Guinea	0–0	Senegal

Conakry

Referee: Modibo N'Diaye (Mali)

Senegal won 4–0 on aggregate.

29 March 1987

Sudan	1–0	Tanzania
Waleed Tashein

Khartoum Stadium, Khartoum

11 April 1987

Tanzania	1–1	Sudan
Manara 19'		Majdi Kassala 59'

Dar es Salaam

Sudan won 2–1 on aggregate.

29 March 1987

Zaire	3–0	Angola
Tueba Santos Nkama

Stade du 20 Mai, Kinshasa

Referee: Kabalamuna Chayu (Zambia)

11 April 1987

Angola	1–0	Zaire
Jesus 19' (pen.)

Luanda

Referee: Gabriel Ondziel-Dinga (Congo)

Zaire won 3–1 on aggregate.

30 March 1987

Ghana	1–2	Sierra Leone
Abdul Razak 80'		Dumbuya 5', 55'

Accra Sports Stadium, Accra

Referee: Coker (Gambia)

11 April 1987

Sierra Leone	0–0	Ghana

Freetown

Referee: Moussa Kouyaté (Guinea)

Sierra Leone won 2–1 on aggregate.

Libya	Cencelled	Zambia
		Withdrew

Libya advanced after Zambia withdrew.

Malawi	Cencelled	Rwanda
		Withdrew

Malawi advanced after Rwanda withdrew.

Second round

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Malawi	1–4	Ivory Coast	1–2	0–2
Nigeria	3–2	Sierra Leone	3–0	0–2
Cameroon	2–1	Sudan	2–0	0–1
Zimbabwe	1–1 (a)	Kenya	1–1	0–0
Senegal	0–0 (2–4 p)	Zaire	0–0	0–0
Algeria	w/o	Libya	—	—

3 July 1987

Malawi	1–2	Ivory Coast
Sinalo		Traoré

Lilongwe

Referee: Frank Valdemarca (Zimbabwe)

19 July 1987

Ivory Coast	2–0	Malawi
Traoré Tiehi

Stade Félix Houphouët-Boigny, Abidjan

Referee: Mohamed Hussam El-Din (Egypt)

Ivory Coast won 4–1 on aggregate.

4 July 1987

Nigeria	3–0	Sierra Leone
Edobor Siasia

Surulere Stadium, Lagos

Referee: Drissa Traoré (Mali)

18 July 1987

Sierra Leone	2–0	Nigeria
Dumbuya 5' Kanu 90'

Freetown

Referee: Célestin N'Cho (Ivory Coast)

Nigeria won 3–2 on aggregate.

5 July 1987

Cameroon	2–0	Sudan
Omam-Biyik 3' Milla 90'

Stade Ahmadou Ahidjo, Yaoundé

Referee: Simon Bantsimba (Congo)

18 July 1987

Sudan	1–0	Cameroon
Jamal Kadous 50'

Khartoum Stadium, Khartoum

Referee: Bekele Kidane (Ethiopia)

Cameroon won 2–1 on aggregate.

5 July 1987

Zimbabwe	1–1	Kenya
Ndunduma 76'		Oyiela 88'

Rufaro Stadium, Harare

Referee: Diagarassen Desscann (Mauritius)

18 July 1987

Kenya	0–0	Zimbabwe

Nyayo National Stadium, Nairobi

Referee: Bester Kalombo (Malawi)

Kenya won by away goals rule after 1–1 on aggregate.

5 July 1987

Senegal	0–0	Zaire

Dakar

19 July 1987

Zaire	0–0	Senegal
Penalties
	4–2

Stade du 20 Mai, Kinshasa

Referee: Jean-Fidèle Diramba (Gabon)

Zaire won 4–2 on penalty shootout after 0–0 on aggregate.

Algeria	Cancelled	Libya
		Withdrew

Algeria advanced after Libya withdrew.

Qualified teams