2015 Africa Cup of Nations qualification

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2015 Africa Cup of Nations qualification
Tournament details
Dates12 April – 19 November 2014
Teams51 (from 1 confederation)
Tournament statistics
Matches played125
Goals scored268 (2.14 per match)
Top scorer(s)Burkina Faso Jonathan Pitroipa
(6 goals)
← 2013
2017 →
Qualification for championships (CAF)
FIFA World Cup
Africa Cup of Nations

The 2015 Africa Cup of Nations qualification matches determined the participating teams for the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations.

A total of 16 teams competed in the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations.[1]

Prior to November 2014, it was expected that Morocco would be the host country (and thus be pre-qualified). However, as Morocco missed the 9 November deadline for confirming their willingness to host (because of the Ebola virus epidemic in West Africa), Morocco was expelled from the tournament.[2] Equatorial Guinea was chosen as the new host, and despite having played in the qualifiers and been disqualified due to fielding an ineligible player, they now qualify for the tournament automatically.[3]

Qualified teams[edit]

  Qualified
  Failed to qualify
  Withdrew, disqualified or did not enter
  Not part of CAF
Team Method of
qualification 		Date of
qualification 		Finals
appearance 		Last
appearance 		Previous best
performance 		FIFA ranking
at start of event
 Equatorial Guinea 00Hosts 14 November 2014 2nd 2012 Quarter-finals (2012)
 Cape Verde Group F winners 15 October 2014 2nd 2013 Quarter-finals (2013)
 Algeria Group B winners 15 October 2014 15th 2013 Winners (1990)
 Tunisia Group G winners 14 November 2014 17th 2013 Winners (2004)
 South Africa Group A winners 15 November 2014 9th 2013 Winners (1996)
 Zambia Group F runners-up 15 November 2014 17th 2013 Winners (2012)
 Cameroon Group D winners 15 November 2014 17th 2010 Winners (1984, 1988, 2000, 2002)
 Gabon Group C winners 15 November 2014 5th 2012 Quarter-finals (1996, 2012)
 Burkina Faso Group C runners-up 15 November 2014 9th 2013 Runners-up (2013)
 Senegal Group G runners-up 15 November 2014 13th 2012 Runners-up (2002)
 Ivory Coast Group D runners-up 19 November 2014 20th 2013 Winners (1992)
 Ghana Group E winners 19 November 2014 19th 2013 Winners (1963, 1965, 1978, 1982)
 Guinea Group E runners-up 19 November 2014 11th 2012 Runners-up (1976)
 Mali Group B runners-up 19 November 2014 8th 2013 Runners-up (1972)
 Congo Group A runners-up 19 November 2014 7th 2000 Winners (1972)
 DR Congo Best 3rd place 19 November 2014 17th 2013 Winners (1968, 1974)

Format[edit]

The qualifying draw was supposed to take place in Morocco on 10 March 2013 during CAF General Assembly.[4] However, the CAF Executive Committee decided on 8 March 2013 that the qualifying draw would be held on 31 January 2014 in South Africa in line with the 2014 African Nations Championship.[5] However, on 28 January 2014, the draw date was reported to have changed once again. The qualifying draw was held on 27 April 2014 in Cairo, Egypt (with the exception of the preliminary round which was held on 21 February 2014 in Cairo).[6]

A total of 51 teams entered the qualification matches (Djibouti and Somalia did not enter).[7][8] After the CAF Executive Committee meeting on 24 January 2014, it was decided that the qualifiers shall be played in the format of several qualifying rounds, as well as a group stage with seven groups consisting of four teams each. The two top teams of each group then directly qualify for the finals, along with the best third place team of the seven groups.[9] This was different from the original proposal, which consisted of a preliminary round followed by a group stage with twelve groups of four teams.[10]

The top 21 teams listed in the CAF Ranking shall automatically qualify for the group stage. The seven other teams playing in the group stage shall be determined following the conclusion of the qualifying rounds. The ranking is computed using the teams' results in the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations finals (weighted by 3) and qualifiers, the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations finals (weighted by 2) and qualifiers (weighted by 0.5), the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations finals, and the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifiers. If tied on points, the tiebreaker is decided by the results of the latest editions of the Africa Cup of Nations.

Below are the ranking of the 51 teams that entered the qualification matches:[9][11][12]

Bye to group stage Competing in qualifying rounds
Entering in first round Entering in preliminary round
  1.  Nigeria (39.5 pts)
  2.  Ghana (38 pts)
  3.  Ivory Coast (36 pts)
  4.  Zambia (33 pts)
  5.  Burkina Faso (32 pts)
  6.  Mali (30 pts)
  7.  Tunisia (22.5 pts)
  8.  Algeria (18 pts)
  9.  Angola (17 pts)
  10.  Cape Verde (16.5 pts)
  11.  Togo (14.5 pts)
  12.  Egypt (14.5 pts)
  13.  South Africa (13.5 pts)
  14.  Cameroon (13.5 pts)
  15.  DR Congo (12 pts)
  16.  Ethiopia (12 pts)
  17.  Gabon (12 pts)
  18.  Niger (11 pts)
  19.  Guinea (11 pts)
  20.  Senegal (11 pts)
  21.  Sudan (10.5 pts)
  1.  Libya (10.5 pts)
  2.  Equatorial Guinea (9 pts)
  3.  Botswana (8 pts)
  4.  Malawi (7 pts)
  5.  Uganda (6.5 pts)
  6.  Mozambique (6 pts)
  7.  Benin (5.5 pts)
  8.  Sierra Leone (5 pts)
  9.  Congo (5 pts)
  10.  Central African Republic (4.5 pts)
  11.  Zimbabwe (4 pts)
  12.  Kenya (4 pts)
  13.  Liberia (3.5 pts)
  14.  Gambia (3.5 pts)
  15.  Rwanda (3.5 pts)
  16.  Tanzania (3.5 pts)
  17.  Namibia (3 pts)
  18.  Burundi (2 pts)
  19.  Lesotho (2 pts)
  20.  Guinea-Bissau (1.5 pts)
  21.  Madagascar (1.5 pts)
  22.  Chad (1 pt)
  23.  São Tomé and Príncipe (1 pt)
  24.  Seychelles (1 pts)
  25.  Comoros (0.5 pts)
  26.  Swaziland (0.5 pts)
  1.  Mauritius (0.5 pts)
  2.  Eritrea (0 pts)
  3.  Mauritania (0 pts)
  4.  South Sudan (0 pts)

Schedule[edit]

The schedule of the competition was as follows.[11][13]

Round Matchday Date
Qualifying rounds Preliminary round 1st leg 11–13 April 2014
Preliminary round 2nd leg 18–20 April 2014
First round 1st leg 16–18 May 2014
First round 2nd leg 30 May–1 June 2014
Second round 1st leg 18–20 July 2014
Second round 2nd leg 1–3 August 2014
Group stage Matchday 1 5–6 September 2014
Matchday 2 10 September 2014
Matchday 3 10–11 October 2014
Matchday 4 15 October 2014
Matchday 5 14–15 November 2014
Matchday 6 19 November 2014

Qualifying rounds[edit]

In each of the qualifying rounds, teams were drawn into knock-out ties. Qualification ties were played on a home-and-away two-legged basis. If the sides were level on aggregate after the second leg, the away goals rule was applied, and if still level, the tie proceeded directly to a penalty shoot-out (no extra time was played).[1]

Preliminary round[edit]

The draw for the preliminary round was held at the CAF Executive Committee on 21 February 2014 at Cairo, Egypt.[11] The four teams ranked 48–51 played in this round.

On 30 March 2014, Eritrea withdrew from the preliminary round of the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers,[14] likely due to a rising number of the Eritrean national team players defecting from Eritrea during away matches.[15]

Team 1 Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
Mauritania  3–0  Mauritius 1–0 2–0
Eritrea  w/o  South Sudan — —
Mauritania 1–0 Mauritius
Ba 23' Report

Mauritania won 3–0 on aggregate and advanced to the first round.

Eritrea Cancelled South Sudan
Report
Referee: Davies Omweno (Kenya)

South Sudan advanced to the first round after Eritrea, who have a history of their players defecting whilst on international duty, withdrew.[16][17]

First round[edit]

The draw for the first round was held on 27 April 2014 at Cairo, Egypt.[18][19] The 26 teams ranked 22–47 and the two winners of the preliminary round played in this round. Teams ranked 22–35 were seeded, and teams ranked 36–47 and the two winners of the preliminary round were unseeded.[20]

Team 1 Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
Liberia  1–2  Lesotho 1–0 0–2
Kenya  2–1  Comoros 1–0 1–1
Madagascar  2–2 (a)  Uganda 2–1 0–1
Mauritania  awd.  Equatorial Guinea 1–0 0–3
Namibia  1–3  Congo 1–0 0–3
Libya  0–3  Rwanda 0–0 0–3
Burundi  0–1  Botswana 0–0 0–1
Central African Republic  1–3  Guinea-Bissau 0–0 1–3
Swaziland  1–2  Sierra Leone 1–1 0–1
Gambia  awd.  Seychelles — —
São Tomé and Príncipe  0–4  Benin 0–2 0–2
Malawi  3–3 (a)  Chad 2–0 1–3
Tanzania  3–2  Zimbabwe 1–0 2–2
Mozambique  5–0  South Sudan 5–0 0–0
Lesotho 2–0 Liberia
Potloane 2'
Jetoh 5' (o.g.)		 Report
Referee: Joshua Amao (Nigeria)

Lesotho won 2–1 on aggregate and advanced to the second round.

Kenya won 2–1 on aggregate and advanced to the second round.

2–2 on aggregate. Uganda won on the away goals rule and advanced to the second round.

Equatorial Guinea won 3–1 on aggregate. However, on 3 July 2014, the CAF announced that Equatorial Guinea were disqualified for fielding the ineligible player Thierry Fidjeu in the tie, and as a result, Mauritania advanced to the second round.[21] Equatorial Guinea later qualified for the final tournament as replacement hosts.

Namibia 1–0 Congo
Bester 87' Report
Referee: Hagi Wiish (Somalia)

Congo won 3–1 on aggregate and advanced to the second round.

Rwanda 3–0 Libya
Birori 38', 62', 72' Report

Rwanda won 3–0 on aggregate and advanced to the second round.

Botswana won 1–0 on aggregate and advanced to the second round.

Guinea-Bissau won 3–1 on aggregate and advanced to the second round.

Sierra Leone won 2–1 on aggregate and advanced to the second round.

Gambia Cancelled Seychelles
Report
Seychelles Cancelled Gambia
Report

Seychelles advanced to the second round after Gambia were suspended from all CAF competitions for two years for deliberately fielding overage players in the 2015 African U-20 Championship qualification match against Liberia.[22]

Benin won 4–0 on aggregate and advanced to the second round.

Malawi 2–0 Chad
Mhango 6', 74' Report
Referee: Rainhold Shikongo (Namibia)

3–3 on aggregate. Malawi won on the away goals rule and advanced to the second round.

Tanzania won 3–2 on aggregate and advanced to the second round.

Mozambique 5–0 South Sudan
Josemar 12'
Mexer 42'
Sonito 45', 53'
Isac 82'		 Report
Referee: Denis Batte (Uganda)

Mozambique won 5–0 on aggregate and advanced to the second round.

Second round[edit]

The draw for the second round was held on 27 April 2014 at Cairo, Egypt.[23] The 14 winners of the first round played in this round.

Team 1 Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
Lesotho  1–0  Kenya 1–0 0–0
Uganda  3–0  Mauritania 2–0 1–0
Congo  awd.  Rwanda 2–0 0–2
Botswana  3–1  Guinea-Bissau 2–0 1–1
Sierra Leone  w/o  Seychelles 2–0 —
Benin  1–1 (3–4 p)  Malawi 1–0 0–1
Tanzania  3–4  Mozambique 2–2 1–2

Lesotho won 1–0 on aggregate and advanced to Group C.

Uganda won 3–0 on aggregate and advanced to Group E.

2–2 on aggregate. Rwanda won the penalty shoot-out. However, on 17 August 2014, the CAF announced that Rwanda were disqualified for fielding the ineligible player Daddy Birori in the tie, as it emerged that Birori had been using a different name and a Congolese passport when playing for his club side, AS Vita.[24] As a result, Congo advanced to Group A.[25]

Botswana won 3–1 on aggregate and advanced to Group G.

Seychelles Cancelled Sierra Leone
Report
Referee: Hagi Wiish (Somalia)

Sierra Leone advanced to Group D after Seychelles withdrew.[26] Seychelles were forced to forfeit after the Sierra Leone team was barred by the Seychelles immigration authorities from entering the country to play the second leg for fears over the West African Ebola virus epidemic.[27]

1–1 on aggregate. Malawi won the penalty shoot-out and advanced to Group B.

Mozambique won 4–3 on aggregate and advanced to Group F.

Group stage[edit]

The draw for the group stage was held on 27 April 2014 at Cairo, Egypt.[28][29] The 21 teams ranked 1–21 and the seven winners of the second round played in this round. Teams ranked 1–7 were seeded into Pot 1, teams ranked 8–14 were seeded into Pot 2, teams ranked 15–21 were seeded into Pot 3, and the seven winners of the second round were seeded into Pot 4. The 28 teams were drawn into seven groups of four, with each group containing one team from each pot. Each group was played on a home-and-away round-robin basis. The winners and runners-up of each group, plus the best third-placed team, qualified for the finals.

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:[1]

  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 had an equal ranking, criteria 1 to 4 were reapplied exclusively to the matches between the two teams in question to determine their final rankings. If this procedure did not lead to a decision, criteria 6 to 9 applied;
  6. Goal difference in all games;
  7. Goals scored in all games;
  8. Away goals scored in all games;
  9. Drawing of lots.
Legend
Group winners, runners-up, and the best third-placed team qualified for the finals

Group A[edit]

Main article: 2015 Africa Cup of Nations qualification Group A
Team
 Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts  RSA  CGO  NGA  SDN
 South Africa 6 3 3 0 9 3 +6 12 0–0 0–0 2–1
 Congo 6 3 1 2 6 6 0 10 0–2 0–2 2–0
 Nigeria 6 2 2 2 9 7 +2 8 2–2 2–3 3–1
 Sudan 6 1 0 5 3 11 −8 3 0–3 0–1 1–0
Source: [citation needed]

Group B[edit]

Main article: 2015 Africa Cup of Nations qualification Group B
Team
 Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts  ALG  MLI  MWI  ETH
 Algeria 6 5 0 1 11 4 +7 15 1–0 3–0 3–1
 Mali 6 3 0 3 8 6 +2 9 2–0 2–0 2–3
 Malawi 6 2 1 3 5 9 −4 7 0–2 2–0 3–2
 Ethiopia 6 1 1 4 7 12 −5 4 1–2 0–2 0–0
Source: [citation needed]

Group C[edit]

Main article: 2015 Africa Cup of Nations qualification Group C
Team
 Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts  GAB  BFA  ANG  LES
 Gabon 6 3 3 0 9 4 +5 12 2–0 1–0 4–2
 Burkina Faso 6 3 2 1 8 4 +4 11 1–1 1–1 2–0
 Angola 6 1 3 2 5 5 0 6 0–0 0–3 4–0
 Lesotho 6 0 2 4 3 12 −9 2 1–1 0–1 0–0
Source: [citation needed]

Group D[edit]

Main article: 2015 Africa Cup of Nations qualification Group D
Team
 Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts  CMR  CIV  COD  SLE
 Cameroon 6 4 2 0 9 1 +8 14 4–1 1–0 2–0
 Ivory Coast 6 3 1 2 13 11 +2 10 0–0 3–4 2–1
 DR Congo 6 3 0 3 10 9 +1 9 0–2 1–2 3–1
 Sierra Leone 6 0 1 5 3 14 −11 1 0–0 1–5 0–2
Source: [citation needed]

Group E[edit]

Main article: 2015 Africa Cup of Nations qualification Group E
Team
 Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts  GHA  GUI  UGA  TOG
 Ghana 6 3 2 1 11 7 +4 11 3–1 1–1 3–1
 Guinea 6 3 1 2 10 8 +2 10 1–1 2–0 2–1
 Uganda 6 2 1 3 4 5 −1 7 1–0 2–0 0–1
 Togo 6 2 0 4 7 12 −5 6 2–3 1–4 1–0
Source: [citation needed]

Group F[edit]

Main article: 2015 Africa Cup of Nations qualification Group F
Team
 Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts  CPV  ZAM  MOZ  NIG
 Cape Verde 6 4 0 2 9 6 +3 12 2–1 1–0 3–1
 Zambia 6 3 2 1 6 2 +4 11 1–0 0–0 3–0
 Mozambique 6 1 3 2 4 4 0 6 2–0 0–1 1–1
 Niger 6 0 3 3 4 11 −7 3 1–3 0–0 1–1
Source: [citation needed]

Group G[edit]

Main article: 2015 Africa Cup of Nations qualification Group G
Team
 Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts  TUN  SEN  EGY  BOT
 Tunisia 6 4 2 0 6 2 +4 14 1–0 2–1 2–1
 Senegal 6 4 1 1 8 1 +7 13 0–0 2–0 3–0
 Egypt 6 2 0 4 5 6 −1 6 0–1 0–1 2–0
 Botswana 6 0 1 5 1 11 −10 1 0–0 0–2 0–2
Source: [citation needed]

Ranking of third-placed teams[edit]

Grp Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
D  DR Congo 6 3 0 3 10 9 +1 9
A  Nigeria 6 2 2 2 9 7 +2 8
E  Uganda 6 2 1 3 4 5 −1 7
B  Malawi 6 2 1 3 5 9 −4 7
C  Angola 6 1 3 2 5 5 0 6
F  Mozambique 6 1 3 2 4 4 0 6
G  Egypt 6 2 0 4 5 6 −1 6
Source: [citation needed]

Goalscorers[edit]

6 goals
5 goals
4 goals
3 goals
2 goals
1 goal