2017 Africa Cup of Nations qualification

Tournament details
Dates	12 June 2015 – 4 September 2016
Teams	51 (from 1 confederation)
Tournament statistics
Matches played	144
Goals scored	363 (2.52 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Hillal Soudani (7 goals)
← 2015 2019 →

The 2017 Africa Cup of Nations qualification matches were organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) to decide the participating teams of the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations, the 31st edition of the international men's football championship of Africa. A total of 16 teams qualified to play in the final tournament, including Gabon who qualified automatically as hosts.^[1]

Draw

A total of 52 teams entered the tournament, including the hosts (Gabon) which qualified automatically for the final tournament. The draw for the qualification stage took place on 8 April 2015, immediately after the announcement of the host nation,^[2] originally scheduled at 12:30 UTC+2 at the Marriott ‘Zamalek’ Hotel in Cairo, Egypt,^[3] but delayed to 15:00.^[4] The host nation team (Gabon) was also drawn into a group and played games against those in that group; however, these matches were only considered as friendlies and not counted for the standings.

Due to the cancellation of Morocco being hosts of the 2015 edition, the national team of Morocco were originally banned by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) to enter the 2017 and 2019 Africa Cups of Nations.^[5] However, the ban was overturned by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, allowing Morocco to enter the tournament.^[6]

Seeding

For seeding, the teams were ranked using CAF's own system which were calculated based on the team's performance in the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifying tournament, the three most recent editions the Africa Cup of Nations, and their qualifying campaigns.^[7][8]

Pot	Rank	Team	Tournaments and weighting factor							Total
			2015 AFCON	2015 AFCON Q.	2013 AFCON	2013 AFCON Q.	2012 AFCON	2012 AFCON Q.	2014 FIFA WC Q.
			× 3	× 2	× 2	× 1	× 1	× 0.5	× 1
Pot 1	1	Ivory Coast	24	8	6	3	6	2	7	56
	2	Ghana	18	10	8	3	4	2	7	52
	3	Tunisia	9	10	4	3	3	1.5	5	35.5
	4	Burkina Faso	3	8	12	3	1	2	5	34
	5	Mali	6	8	8	3	4	2	3	34
	6	Nigeria		6	16	3		1.5	7	33.5
	7	Algeria	9	10	2	3		1	7	32
	8	Zambia	3	8	4	3	8	2	3	31
	9	Cape Verde	6	10	6	3		1.5	3	29.5
	10	DR Congo	12	6	4	3		1	2	28
	11	Guinea	9	8		2	2	2	3	26
	12	Senegal	6	8		2	1	2	5	24
	13	Cameroon	3	10		2		1.5	7	23.5
Pot 2	14	South Africa	3	10	6			1.5	3	23.5
Pot X	15	Gabon (Host)	6	10		2	3		2	23
Pot 2	16	Congo	9	8		1		1	3	22
	17	Equatorial Guinea	12	1		2	3		1	19
	18	Angola		6	2	3	2	2	2	17
	19	Ethiopia		4	2	3		1	5	15
	20	Togo		4	6	3		0.5	1	14.5
	21	Morocco			4	3	2	2	3	14
	22	Niger		4	2	3	1	2	1	13
	23	Egypt		6		1		0.5	5	12.5
	24	Uganda		6		2		1.5	3	12.5
	25	Malawi		6		2		1	3	12
	26	Sudan		4		2	3	1.5	1	11.5
	27	Mozambique		6		2		1	2	11
Pot 3	28	Botswana		4		2	1	2	2	11
	29	Libya		1		2	2	1.5	3	9.5
	30	Sierra Leone		4		2		1	2	9
	31	Lesotho		4					2	6
	32	Kenya		2		1		1	2	6
	33	Benin		2		1		0.5	2	5.5
	34	Rwanda		2		1		1.5	1	5.5
	35	Tanzania		2		1		0.5	2	5.5
	36	Central African Republic		1		2		1.5	1	5.5
	37	Zimbabwe		1		2		1	1	5
	38	Liberia		1		2		0.5	1	4.5
	39	Gambia		1		1		1.5	1	4.5
	40	Namibia		1		1		1	1	4
Pot 4	41	Guinea-Bissau		2		1		0.5		3.5
	42	Seychelles		2		1				3
	43	Burundi		1		1		1		3
	44	Mauritania		2				0.5		2.5
	45	Chad		1		1		0.5		2.5
	45	Madagascar		1		1		0.5		2.5
	47	São Tomé and Príncipe		1		1				2
	48	Comoros		1				0.5		1.5
	48	Swaziland		1				0.5		1.5
	50	South Sudan		1						1
	51	Mauritius						0.5		0.5
	52	Djibouti								0

Non-participants

•  Eritrea
•  Somalia

Procedure

The draw procedure is as follows:^[9]

• The hosts are placed in its own Pot X. A drawing of lots determines which group the hosts are "drawn" to play friendlies against (meaning this group in effect only has three teams).
• The 13 teams in Pot 1 are drawn, with each group containing one team.
• The 13 teams in Pot 2 are drawn, with each group containing one team.
• The 13 teams in Pot 3 are drawn, with each group containing one team.
• The 12 teams in Pot 4 are drawn, with each group, except the one with only three teams (where the host had already been "drawn" into), containing one team.

Format

There were thirteen groups, twelve with four teams and one with three teams (plus the host nation which played friendlies with the three teams). The group winners and two best overall runners-up qualified for the tournament.^[2] When determining the best runners-up, the group of the host nation (where only matches between three teams were counted for the standings) was not considered, as well as any group where only three teams were left due to withdrawal of one team.^[2]

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:^[10]

1. Number of points obtained in games between the teams concerned;
2. Goal difference in games between the teams concerned;
3. Goals scored in games between the teams concerned;
4. Away goals scored in games between the teams concerned;
5. If, after applying criteria 1 to 4 to several teams, two teams still have an equal ranking, criteria 1 to 4 are reapplied exclusively to the matches between the two teams in question to determine their final rankings. If this procedure does not lead to a decision, criteria 6 to 9 apply;
6. Goal difference in all games;
7. Goals scored in all games;
8. Away goals scored in all games;
9. Drawing of lots.

Schedule

The qualifiers started with the first matches played in the FIFA international dates of 8–16 June 2015.^[2][11]

Groups

Group A

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Tunisia	6	4	1	1	16	3	+13	13	Final tournament		—	1–0	4–1	8–1
2	Togo	6	3	2	1	11	4	+7	11			0–0	—	2–1	5–0
3	Liberia	6	3	1	2	11	8	+3	10			1–0	2–2	—	5–0
4	Djibouti	6	0	0	6	1	24	−23	0			0–3	0–2	0–1	—

Group B

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	DR Congo	6	5	0	1	16	6	+10	15	Final tournament		—	4–1	2–1	2–1
2	Central African Republic	6	3	1	2	9	11	−2	10			2–0	—	3–1	2–1
3	Angola	6	1	2	3	7	8	−1	5			0–2	4–0	—	1–1
4	Madagascar	6	0	3	3	5	12	−7	3			1–6	1–1	0–0	—

Group C

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Mali	6	5	1	0	13	3	+10	16	Final tournament		—	5–2	1–0	2–0
2	Benin	6	3	2	1	12	10	+2	11			1–1	—	2–1	4–1
3	Equatorial Guinea	6	1	1	4	6	6	0	4			0–1	1–1	—	4–0
4	South Sudan	6	1	0	5	3	15	−12	3			0–3	1–2	1–0	—

Group D

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Burkina Faso	6	4	1	1	6	2	+4	13	Final tournament		—	1–0	2–1	2–0
2	Uganda	6	4	1	1	6	2	+4	13			0–0	—	2–0	1–0
3	Botswana	6	2	0	4	5	8	−3	6			1–0	1–2	—	2–1
4	Comoros	6	1	0	5	2	7	−5	3			0–1	0–1	1–0	—

Group E

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Guinea-Bissau	6	3	1	2	7	7	0	10	Final tournament		—	2–4	3–2	1–0
2	Congo	6	2	3	1	9	7	+2	9			1–0	—	1–1	1–1
3	Zambia	6	1	4	1	7	7	0	7			0–0	1–1	—	1–1
4	Kenya	6	1	2	3	5	7	−2	5			0–1	2–1	1–2	—

Group F

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Morocco	6	5	1	0	10	1	+9	16	Final tournament		—	2–0	1–0	2–0
2	Cape Verde	6	3	0	3	11	7	+4	9			0–1	—	0–1	7–1
3	Libya	6	2	1	3	8	6	+2	7			1–1	1–2	—	4–0
4	São Tomé and Príncipe	6	1	0	5	4	19	−15	3			0–3	1–2	2–1	—

Group G

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Egypt	4	3	1	0	7	1	+6	10	Final tournament		—	1–0	3–0	Canc.
2	Nigeria	4	1	2	1	2	2	0	5			1–1	—	1–0	2–0
3	Tanzania	4	0	1	3	0	6	−6	1			0–2	0–0	—	Canc.
4	Chad	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Withdrew[a]		1–5	Canc.	0–1	—

Group H

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Ghana	6	4	2	0	14	3	+11	14	Final tournament		—	3–1	1–1	7–1
2	Mozambique	6	2	1	3	5	7	−2	7			0–0	—	0–1	1–0
3	Rwanda	6	2	1	3	9	6	+3	7			0–1	2–3	—	5–0
4	Mauritius	6	2	0	4	3	15	−12	6			0–2	1–0	1–0	—

Group I

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Ivory Coast	4	1	3	0	3	2	+1	6	Final tournament		—	1–1	1–0
2	Sierra Leone	4	1	2	1	2	2	0	5			0–0	—	1–0
3	Sudan	4	1	1	2	2	3	−1	4			1–1	1–0	—

•  Gabon was also drawn into this group and played against the other three teams in the group; however, those matches were only considered friendlies and did not count for the standings.

Group J

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Algeria	6	5	1	0	25	5	+20	16	Final tournament		—	7–1	4–0	6–0
2	Ethiopia	6	3	2	1	11	14	−3	11			3–3	—	2–1	2–1
3	Seychelles	6	1	1	4	5	11	−6	4			0–2	1–1	—	2–0
4	Lesotho	6	1	0	5	5	16	−11	3			1–3	1–2	2–1	—

Group K

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Senegal	6	6	0	0	13	2	+11	18	Final tournament		—	3–1	2–0	2–0
2	Burundi	6	2	0	4	8	12	−4	6			0–2	—	1–3	2–0
3	Namibia	6	2	0	4	5	9	−4	6			0–2	1–3	—	1–0
4	Niger	6	2	0	4	5	8	−3	6			1–2	3–1	1–0	—

Group L

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Zimbabwe	6	3	2	1	11	4	+7	11	Final tournament		—	4–0	1–1	3–0
2	Swaziland	6	2	2	2	6	9	−3	8			1–1	—	1–0	2–2
3	Guinea	6	2	2	2	5	5	0	8			1–0	1–2	—	0–0
4	Malawi	6	1	2	3	5	9	−4	5			1–2	1–0	1–2	—

Group M

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Cameroon	6	4	2	0	7	2	+5	14	Final tournament		—	1–0	2–2	2–0
2	Mauritania	6	2	2	2	6	5	+1	8			0–1	—	3–1	2–1
3	South Africa	6	1	4	1	8	6	+2	7			0–0	1–1	—	0–0
4	Gambia	6	0	2	4	1	9	−8	2			0–1	0–0	0–4	—

Ranking of second-placed teams

Only groups with four teams were considered for this ranking. Therefore, Group I was not considered, as well as Group G, where only three teams were left due to the withdrawal of one team.^[2]

Pos	Grp	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	D	Uganda	6	4	1	1	6	2	+4	13	Final tournament
2	A	Togo	6	3	2	1	11	4	+7	11
3	C	Benin	6	3	2	1	12	10	+2	11
4	J	Ethiopia	6	3	2	1	11	14	−3	11
5	B	Central African Republic	6	3	1	2	9	11	−2	10
6	F	Cape Verde	6	3	0	3	11	7	+4	9
7	E	Congo	6	2	3	1	9	7	+2	9
8	M	Mauritania	6	2	2	2	6	5	+1	8
9	L	Swaziland	6	2	2	2	6	9	−3	8
10	H	Mozambique	6	2	1	3	5	7	−2	7
11	K	Burundi	6	2	0	4	8	12	−4	6

Qualified teams

The following teams qualified for the tournament.

Team	Qualified as	Qualified on	Previous appearances in tournament1
Gabon	Hosts	8 April 2015	6 (1994, 1996, 2000, 2010, 2012, 2015)
Morocco	Group F winners	29 March 2016	15 (1972, 1976, 1978, 1980, 1986, 1988, 1992, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2012, 2013)
Algeria	Group J winners	2 June 2016	16 (1968, 1980, 1982, 1984, 1986, 1988, 1990, 1992, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2010, 2013, 2015)
Cameroon	Group M winners	3 June 2016	17 (1970, 1972, 1982, 1984, 1986, 1988, 1990, 1992, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2015)
Senegal	Group K winners	4 June 2016	13 (1965, 1968, 1986, 1990, 1992, 1994, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2012, 2015)
Egypt	Group G winners	4 June 2016	22 (1957, 1959, 1962, 1963, 1970, 1974, 1976, 1980, 1984, 1986, 1988, 1990, 1992, 1994, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010)
Ghana	Group H winners	5 June 2016	20 (1963, 1965, 1968, 1970, 1978, 1980, 1982, 1984, 1992, 1994, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2015)
Guinea-Bissau	Group E winners	5 June 2016	0 (debut)
Zimbabwe	Group L winners	5 June 2016	2 (2004, 2006)
Mali	Group C winners	5 June 2016	9 (1972, 1994, 2002, 2004, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2015)
Ivory Coast	Group I winners	3 September 2016	21 (1965, 1968, 1970, 1974, 1980, 1984, 1986, 1988, 1990, 1992, 1994, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2015)
Uganda	Group D runners-up	4 September 2016	5 (1962, 1968, 1974, 1976, 1978)
Burkina Faso	Group D winners	4 September 2016	10 (1978, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2015)
Tunisia	Group A winners	4 September 2016	17 (1962, 1963, 1965, 1978, 1982, 1994, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2015)
DR Congo	Group B winners	4 September 2016	17 (1965, 1968, 1970, 1972, 1974, 1976, 1988, 1992, 1994, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2013, 2015)
Togo	Group A runners-up	4 September 2016	7 (1972, 1984, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2006, 2013)

¹ Bold indicates champion for that year. Italic indicates host for that year.

Goalscorers

7 goals

6 goals

5 goals

4 goals

3 goals

2 goals

1 goal

1 own goal