2017 Africa Cup of Nations qualification

2017 Africa Cup of Nations qualification

Tournament details
Dates	12 June 2015 – 4 September 2016
Teams	51 (from 1 confederation)
Tournament statistics
Matches played	50
Goals scored	126 (2.52 per match)
Top scorer(s)	El Arbi Hillel Soudani Férébory Doré Basem Morsy (4 goals each)

The 2017 Africa Cup of Nations qualification matches are 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 will qualify to play in the final tournament, including Gabon who qualified automatically as hosts.^[1]

Qualified teams

  To be determined

  Qualified

  Failed to qualify

  Withdrew, disqualified or did not enter

  Not part of CAF

The following teams qualified for the tournament.

Team	Qualified as	Qualified on	Previous appearances in tournament1
Gabon	*Hosts !Hosts	01 !8 April 2015	01 !6 (1994, 1996, 2000, 2010, 2012, 2015)

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

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) will also be drawn into a group and will play games against those in that group; however, these matches will only be 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, meaning Morocco may 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 will be thirteen groups, twelve with four teams and one with three teams (plus the host nation which play friendlies with the three teams). The group winners and two best overall runners-up will qualify for the tournament.^[2] When determining the best runners-up, the group of the host nation (where only matches between three teams are counted for the standings) is not considered, as well as any group where only three teams are left due to withdrawal of one team.^[2]

Tiebreakers

The teams are ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss). If tied on points, tiebreakers are 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	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Togo	2	2	0	0	4	1	+3	6	Final tournament		—	2–1	26–29 Mar	2–4 Sep
2	Liberia	2	1	0	1	2	2	0	3	Possible qualification based on ranking		3–5 Jun	—	1–0	26–29 Mar
3	Tunisia	2	1	0	1	8	2	+6	3			23–26 Mar	2–4 Sep	—	8–1
4	Djibouti	2	0	0	2	1	10	−9	0			0–2	23–26 Mar	3–5 Jun	—

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Angola	2	1	1	0	4	0	+4	4	Final tournament		—	4–0	26–29 Mar	2–4 Sep
2	Central African Republic	2	1	0	1	2	4	−2	3	Possible qualification based on ranking		3–5 Jun	—	2–0	26–29 Mar
3	DR Congo	2	1	0	1	2	3	−1	3			23–26 Mar	2–4 Sep	—	2–1
4	Madagascar	2	0	1	1	1	2	−1	1			0–0	23–26 Mar	3–5 Jun	—

Group C

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Mali	2	1	1	0	3	1	+2	4	Final tournament		—	2–0	2–4 Sep	23–26 Mar
2	South Sudan	2	1	0	1	1	2	−1	3	Possible qualification based on ranking		3–5 Jun	—	23–26 Mar	1–0
3	Benin	2	0	2	0	2	2	0	2			1–1	26–29 Mar	—	3–5 Jun
4	Equatorial Guinea	2	0	1	1	1	2	−1	1			26–29 Mar	2–4 Sep	1–1	—

Group D

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Uganda	2	2	0	0	3	0	+3	6	Final tournament		—	2–0	29 Mar	3 Sep
2	Botswana	2	1	0	1	1	2	−1	3	Possible qualification based on ranking		4 Jun	—	1–0	26 Mar
3	Burkina Faso	2	1	0	1	2	1	+1	3			26 Mar	3 Sep	—	2–0
4	Comoros	2	0	0	2	0	3	−3	0			0–1	26 Mar	4 Jun	—

Group E

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Congo	2	1	1	0	5	3	+2	4	Final tournament		—	26–29 Mar	1–1	2–4 Sep
2	Zambia	2	1	1	0	2	1	+1	4	Possible qualification based on ranking		23–26 Mar	—	2–4 Sep	0–0
3	Kenya	2	0	1	1	2	3	−1	1			3–5 Jun	1–2	—	26–29 Mar
4	Guinea-Bissau	2	0	1	1	2	4	−2	1			2–4	3–5 Jun	23–26 Mar	—

Group F

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Cape Verde	2	2	0	0	9	2	+7	6	Final tournament		—	23–26 Mar	2–4 Sep	7–1
2	Morocco	2	2	0	0	4	0	+4	6	Possible qualification based on ranking		26–29 Mar	—	1–0	2–4 Sep
3	Libya	2	0	0	2	1	3	−2	0			1–2	3–5 Jun	—	26–29 Mar
4	São Tomé and Príncipe	2	0	0	2	1	10	−9	0			3–5 Jun	0–3	23–26 Mar	—

Group G

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Egypt	2	2	0	0	8	1	+7	6	Final tournament		—	26–29 Mar	3–0	2–4 Sep
2	Nigeria	2	1	1	0	2	0	+2	4	Possible qualification based on ranking		23–26 Mar	—	2–4 Sep	2–0
3	Tanzania	2	0	1	1	0	3	−3	1			3–5 Jun	0–0	—	26–29 Mar
4	Chad	2	0	0	2	1	7	−6	0			1–5	3–5 Jun	23–26 Mar	—

Group H

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Ghana	2	2	0	0	8	1	+7	6	Final tournament		—	2–4 Sep	7–1	23–26 Mar
2	Rwanda	2	1	0	1	1	1	0	3	Possible qualification based on ranking		0–1	—	29 Mar	4 Jun
3	Mauritius	2	1	0	1	2	7	−5	3			3–5 Jun	23–26 Mar	—	1–0
4	Mozambique	2	0	0	2	0	2	−2	0			26–29 Mar	0–1	2–4 Sep	—

Group I

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Sudan	1	1	0	0	1	0	+1	3	Final tournament		—	26–29 Mar	1–0
2	Ivory Coast	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	1			23–26 Mar	—	2–4 Sep
3	Sierra Leone	2	0	1	1	0	1	−1	1			3–5 Jun	0–0	—

•  Gabon has also been drawn into this group and will play games against the other three teams in the group; however, these matches will only be considered as friendlies and not counted for the standings.

Group J

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Algeria	2	2	0	0	7	1	+6	6	Final tournament		—	23–26 Mar	4–0	2–4 Sep
2	Ethiopia	2	1	1	0	3	2	+1	4	Possible qualification based on ranking		26–29 Mar	—	2–4 Sep	2–1
3	Seychelles	2	0	1	1	1	5	−4	1			3–5 Jun	1–1	—	26 Mar
4	Lesotho	2	0	0	2	2	5	−3	0			1–3	3–5 Jun	26–29 Mar	—

Group K

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Senegal	2	2	0	0	5	1	+4	6	Final tournament		—	3–1	23–26 Mar	2–4 Sep
2	Burundi	2	1	0	1	3	3	0	3	Possible qualification based on ranking		3–5 Jun	—	2–0	23–26 Mar
3	Niger	2	1	0	1	1	2	−1	3			26–29 Mar	2–4 Sep	—	1–0
4	Namibia	2	0	0	2	0	3	−3	0			0–2	26–29 Mar	3–5 Jun	—

Group L

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Swaziland	2	1	1	0	4	3	+1	4	Final tournament		—	23–26 Mar	2–2	3–5 Jun
2	Zimbabwe	2	1	1	0	3	2	+1	4	Possible qualification based on ranking		26–29 Mar	—	3–5 Jun	1–1
3	Malawi	2	0	1	1	3	4	−1	1			2–4 Sep	1–2	—	26–29 Mar
4	Guinea	2	0	1	1	2	3	−1	1			1–2	2–4 Sep	23–26 Mar	—

Group M

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Cameroon	2	2	0	0	2	0	+2	6	Final tournament		—	1–0	2–4 Sep	23–26 Mar
2	Mauritania	2	1	0	1	3	2	+1	3	Possible qualification based on ranking		3–5 Jun	—	23–26 Mar	3–1
3	Gambia	2	0	1	1	0	1	−1	1			0–1	26–29 Mar	—	3–5 Jun
4	South Africa	2	0	1	1	1	3	−2	1			26–29 Mar	2–4 Sep	0–0	—

Ranking of second-placed teams

Only groups with four teams are considered for this ranking. Therefore, Group I is not considered, as well as any group where only three teams are left due to withdrawal of one team.^[2]

Pos	Grp	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	F	Morocco	2	2	0	0	4	0	+4	6	Final tournament
2	G	Nigeria	2	1	1	0	2	0	+2	4
3	J	Ethiopia	2	1	1	0	3	2	+1	4
4	L	Zimbabwe	2	1	1	0	3	2	+1	4
5	E	Zambia	2	1	1	0	2	1	+1	4
6	M	Mauritania	2	1	0	1	3	2	+1	3
7	K	Burundi	2	1	0	1	3	3	0	3
8	A	Liberia	2	1	0	1	2	2	0	3
9	H	Rwanda	2	1	0	1	1	1	0	3
10	C	South Sudan	2	1	0	1	1	2	−1	3
11	D	Botswana	2	1	0	1	1	2	−1	3
12	B	Central African Republic	2	1	0	1	2	4	−2	3

Goalscorers

4 goals

3 goals

2 goals

1 goal

References

External links

• Orange Africa Cup Of Nations Qualifiers 2017, CAFonline.com