2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualification
Tournament details
Dates9 October 2019 – 15 June 2021
Teams52 (from 1 confederation)
Tournament statistics
Matches played150
Goals scored335 (2.23 per match)
Top scorer(s)Nigeria Victor Osimhen
Zambia Patson Daka
(5 goals each)
← 2019
2023 →
Qualification for championships (CAF)
FIFA World Cup
Africa Cup of Nations

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.

Draw

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

Schedule

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

Preliminary round

Main article: 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualification preliminary round

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.

Team 1 Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
Liberia  1–1 (4–5 p)  Chad 1–0 0–1
South Sudan  3–1  Seychelles 2–1 1–0
Mauritius  2–5  São Tomé and Príncipe 1–3 1–2
Djibouti  2–2 (2–3 p)  Gambia 1–1 1–1

Group stage

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):

  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.
  The twelve group winners and runners-up qualified for the final tournament.

Group A

Main article: 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualification 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[a]
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[a] —
Source: CAF
Notes:
  1. ^ a b On 22 March 2021, CAF disqualified Chad due to government interference. As a result, the two final matches involving Chad were cancelled and awarded as 3–0 wins for their opponents.[9]

Group B

Main article: 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualification 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 —
Source: CAF

Group C

Main article: 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualification 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 —
Source: CAF

Group D

Main article: 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualification Group D
Pos Team
 Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Gambia 6 3 1 2 9 7 +2 10[a] Final tournament — 2–1 2–2 1–0
2  Gabon 6 3 1 2 8 6 +2 10[a] 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 —
Source: CAF
Notes:
  1. ^ a b Tied on head-to-head points (3), on head-to-head goal difference (0), on head-to-head goals scored (3), on head-to-head away goals scored (1) and on overall goal difference (+2). Overall goals scored: Gambia 9, Gabon 8.

Group E

Main article: 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualification 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 —
Source: CAF

Group F

Main article: 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualification 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 —
Source: CAF

Group G

Main article: 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualification 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 —
Source: CAF

Group H

Main article: 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualification 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 —
Source: CAF

Group I

Main article: 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualification 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 —
Source: CAF

Group J

Main article: 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualification 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 —
Source: CAF

Group K

Main article: 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualification 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 —
Source: CAF

Group L

Main article: 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualification 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 —
Source: CAF

Qualified teams

The following teams qualified for the final tournament.

Team Qualified as Qualified on Previous appearances in Africa Cup of Nations1
 Cameroon Hosts / Group F winners 8 January 2019 19 (1970, 1972, 1982, 1984, 1986, 1988, 1990, 1992, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2015, 2017, 2019)
 Mali Group A winners 17 November 2020 11 (1972, 1994, 2002, 2004, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019)
 Guinea Group A runners-up 24 March 2021 12 (1970, 1974, 1976, 1980, 1994, 1998, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2012, 2015, 2019)
 Burkina Faso Group B winners 24 March 2021 11 (1978, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2017)
 Malawi Group B runners-up 29 March 2021 2 (1984, 2010)
 Ghana Group C winners 25 March 2021 22 (1963, 1965, 1968, 1970, 1978, 1980, 1982, 1984, 1992, 1994, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019)
 Sudan Group C runners-up 28 March 2021 8 (1957, 1959, 1963, 1970, 1972, 1976, 2008, 2012)
 Gambia Group D winners 25 March 2021 0 (debut)
 Gabon Group D runners-up 25 March 2021 7 (1994, 1996, 2000, 2010, 2012, 2015, 2017)
 Morocco Group E winners 26 March 2021 17 (1972, 1976, 1978, 1980, 1986, 1988, 1992, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2012, 2013, 2017, 2019)
 Mauritania Group E runners-up 30 March 2021 1 (2019)
 Cape Verde Group F runners-up 30 March 2021 2 (2013, 2015)
 Egypt Group G winners 25 March 2021 24 (1957, 1959, 1962, 1963, 1970, 1974, 1976, 1980, 1984, 1986, 1988, 1990, 1992, 1994, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2017, 2019)
 Comoros Group G runners-up 25 March 2021 0 (debut)
 Algeria Group H winners 16 November 2020 18 (1968, 1980, 1982, 1984, 1986, 1988, 1990, 1992, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2010, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019)
 Zimbabwe Group H runners-up 25 March 2021 4 (2004, 2006, 2017, 2019)
 Senegal Group I winners 15 November 2020 15 (1965, 1968, 1986, 1990, 1992, 1994, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2012, 2015, 2017, 2019)
 Guinea-Bissau Group I runners-up 30 March 2021 2 (2017, 2019)
 Tunisia Group J winners 17 November 2020 19 (1962, 1963, 1965, 1978, 1982, 1994, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019)
 Equatorial Guinea Group J runners-up 25 March 2021 2 (2012, 2015)
 Ivory Coast Group K winners 26 March 2021 23 (1965, 1968, 1970, 1974, 1980, 1984, 1986, 1988, 1990, 1992, 1994, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019)
 Ethiopia Group K runners-up 30 March 2021 10 (1957, 1959, 1962, 1963, 1965, 1968, 1970, 1976, 1982, 2013)
 Nigeria Group L winners 27 March 2021 18 (1963, 1976, 1978, 1980, 1982, 1984, 1988, 1990, 1992, 1994, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2013, 2019)
 Sierra Leone Group L runners-up 15 June 2021 2 (1994, 1996)
1 Bold indicates champions for that year. Italics indicates hosts for that year.

Goalscorers

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

1 goal

1 own goal

References

  1. ^ "Draw for 2021 Africa Cup of Nations released". CAF. 18 July 2019. Retrieved 19 July 2019.
  2. ^ "The FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking - Ranking Table - FIFA.com". www.fifa.com. Archived from the original on June 16, 2019. Retrieved 4 July 2019.
  3. ^ "CAF reschedules dates of Nations Cup and World Cup qualifiers". Ahram Online. 16 January 2020.
  4. ^ "Total AFCON 2021 qualifiers postponed". CAF. 13 March 2020.
  5. ^ "Dedicated COVID-19 working group proposes recommendations after first meeting". FIFA.com. 3 April 2020.
  6. ^ "FIFA Council unanimously approves COVID-19 Relief Plan". FIFA.com. 25 June 2020.
  7. ^ "Decisions of CAF Executive Meeting – 30 June 2020". CAF. 30 June 2020.
  8. ^ "Cameroon 2021 qualifiers resume November, Qatar 2022 set for May 2021". CAF. 19 August 2020.
  9. ^ "Chad disqualified from Total AFCON, Cameroon 2021 qualifications". CAF. 22 March 2021. Retrieved 22 March 2021.
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