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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 played97
Goals scored203 (2.09 per match)
Top scorer(s)Uganda Geofrey Massa
Burkina Faso Jonathan Pitroipa
Benin Stéphane Sessègnon
(4 goals)
← 2013
2017 →
Qualification for championships (CAF)
FIFA World Cup
Africa Cup of Nations

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

A total of 16 teams will compete in the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations.

Prior to November 2014, it was expected that Morocco would be the host county (and thus be pre-qualified). However as Morocco has missed the 9 November deadline for confirming their willingness to host (because of the Ebola virus epidemic in West Africa), the CAF will name a new host, and Morocco were expelled from the tournament.[1]

Qualified teams

  To be determined
  Qualified
  Failed to qualify
  Withdrew, disqualified or did not enter
  Not part of CAF
Country Qualified as Date qualification was secured Previous appearances in tournament†
 Cape Verde 00Group F top two 0315 October 2014 1 (2013)
 Algeria 00Group B top two 0315 October 2014 15 (1968, 1980, 1982, 1984, 1986, 1988, 1990, 1992, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2010, 2013)
† Bold indicates champion for that year
† Italic indicates host

Format

The qualifying draw was supposed to take place in Morocco on 10 March 2013 during CAF General Assembly.[2] 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.[3] 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).[4]

A total of 51 teams entered the qualification matches (Djibouti and Somalia did not enter).[5][6] 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.[7] This was different from the original proposal, which consisted of a preliminary round followed by a group stage with twelve groups of four teams.[8] It is not yet clear whether the second best third place team will also qualify after Morocco were expelled.

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:[7][9][10]

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)
  2.  Libya (10.5 pts)
  3.  Equatorial Guinea (9 pts)
  4.  Botswana (8 pts)
  5.  Malawi (7 pts)
  6.  Uganda (6.5 pts)
  7.  Mozambique (6 pts)
  8.  Benin (5.5 pts)
  9.  Sierra Leone (5 pts)
  10.  Congo (5 pts)
  11.  Central African Republic (4.5 pts)
  12.  Zimbabwe (4 pts)
  13.  Kenya (4 pts)
  14.  Liberia (3.5 pts)
  15.  Gambia (3.5 pts)
  16.  Rwanda (3.5 pts)
  17.  Tanzania (3.5 pts)
  18.  Namibia (3 pts)
  19.  Burundi (2 pts)
  20.  Lesotho (2 pts)
  21.  Guinea-Bissau (1.5 pts)
  22.  Madagascar (1.5 pts)
  23.  Chad (1 pt)
  24.  São Tomé and Príncipe (1 pt)
  25.  Seychelles (1 pts)
  26.  Comoros (0.5 pts)
  27.  Eswatini (0.5 pts)
  2.  Mauritius (0.5 pts)
  3.  Eritrea (0 pts)
  4.  Mauritania (0 pts)
  5.  South Sudan (0 pts)

Schedule

The schedule of the competition is as follows.[9][11]

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

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).[12]

Preliminary round

The draw for the preliminary round was held at the CAF Executive Committee on 21 February 2014 at Cairo, Egypt.[9] The four teams ranked 48–51 played in this round.

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 (CAF)
Report

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

South Sudan advanced to the first round after Eritrea withdrew.[13]

First round

The draw for the first round was held on 27 April 2014 at Cairo, Egypt.[14][15] 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.[16]

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
Eswatini  1–2  Sierra Leone 1–1 0–1
Gambia  w/o  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 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.[17]

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

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.

Seychelles Cancelled Gambia
Report (CAF)

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.[18]

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

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

Second round

The draw for the second round was held on 27 April 2014 at Cairo, Egypt.[19] 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[why?] Daddy Birori in the tie, and as a result, Congo advanced to Group A.[20]

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

Sierra Leone advanced to Group D after Seychelles withdrew.[21] 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 2014 West Africa Ebola outbreak.[22]

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

The draw for the group stage was held on 27 April 2014 at Cairo, Egypt.[23][24] The 21 teams ranked 1–21 and the seven winners of the second round play 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 is played on a home-and-away round-robin basis. The winners and runners-up of each group, plus the best third-placed team, qualify for the finals.

Tiebreakers

The teams are ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a tie, 0 points for a loss). If tied on points, tiebreakers are applied in the following order:[12]

  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. Goal difference in all games
  6. Goals scored in all games
  7. Drawing of lots
Legend
Group winners, runners-up, and the best third-placed team qualify for the finals
Team cannot qualify

Group A

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  Republic of the Congo Nigeria South Africa Sudan
Congo  — 15 Nov 0–2 2–0
Nigeria  2–3 — 19 Nov 3–1
South Africa  0–0 0–0 — 15 Nov
Sudan  19 Nov 1–0 0–3 —

|}

Nigeria 2–3 Congo
Ambrose 13'
Salami 89'		 Report (CAF)
Report		 Oniangue 16'
Bifouma 40', 53' (pen.)
Nigeria 3–1 Sudan
Musa 48', 90'
Olanare 66'		 Report (CAF)
Report		 Ibrahim 56'

Group B

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  Algeria Ethiopia Malawi Mali
Algeria  — 15 Nov 3–0 1–0
Ethiopia  1–2 — 19 Nov 0–2
Malawi  0–2 3–2 — 15 Nov
Mali  19 Nov 2–3 2–0 —

|}

Malawi v Mali
Report (CAF)

Group C

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  Angola Burkina Faso Gabon Lesotho
Angola  — 0–3 15 Nov 4–0
Burkina Faso  19 Nov — 1–1 2–0
Gabon  1–0 2–0 — 19 Nov
Lesotho  0–0 15 Nov 1–1 —

|}

Lesotho 0–0 Angola
Report (CAF)
Report
Referee: Kokou Fagla (Togo)

Group D

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  Cameroon Democratic Republic of the Congo Ivory Coast
Cameroon  — 15 Nov 4–1
DR Congo  0–2 — 1–2
Ivory Coast  19 Nov 3–4 —

|}

|referee=Thierry Nkurunziza (Burundi) }}

Group E

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  Ghana Guinea Togo Uganda
Ghana  — 3–1 19 Nov 1–1
Guinea  1–1 — 2–1 19 Nov
Togo  2–3 15 Nov — 1–0
Uganda  15 Nov 2–0 0–1 —

|}

Togo v Guinea
Report (CAF)

Group F

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  Cape Verde Mozambique Niger Zambia
Cape Verde  — 1–0 15 Nov 2–1
Mozambique  2–0 — 1–1 15 Nov
Niger  1–3 19 Nov — 0–0
Zambia  19 Nov 0–0 3–0 —

|}

Group G

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  Botswana Egypt Senegal Tunisia
Botswana  — 0–2 0–2 14 Nov
Egypt  2–0 — 15 Nov 0–1
Senegal  19 Nov 2–0 — 0–0
Tunisia  2–1 19 Nov 1–0 —

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Ranking of third-placed teams

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Goalscorers

Note: Players in bold are still active in the competition.

4 goals
3 goals
2 goals
1 goal
Own goal

Notes

  1. ^ a b South Sudan played their home matches outside of the country due to security concerns stemming from the South Sudanese Civil War.
  2. ^ Libya played their home matches outside of the country due to security concerns.
  3. ^ Central African Republic played their home matches outside of the country due to security concerns.
  4. ^ The Mali v Malawi match was originally to be played on 6 September 2014, 19:00 UTC±0, but was postponed due to heavy rain.[25]
  5. ^ a b c Guinea play their group stage home matches outside of the country due to the 2014 West Africa Ebola virus outbreak.[26]

References

  1. ^ "CAF acknowledges Morocco's refusal to host ORANGE AFCON 2015 from January 17 to February 8". CAF. 11 November 2014.
  2. ^ "قرعة تصفيات كأس أفريقيا للأمم 2015 بالمغرب شهر مارس القادم بالدار البيضاء" (in Arabic). kooora.com. 14 February 2013.
  3. ^ "AFCON 2015 draw to be held in the beginning of 2014". Cafonline.com. 10 March 2013.
  4. ^ "Elephants, Indomitable Lions handed tough draw". Cafonline.com. 27 April 2014.
  5. ^ "Huge entry for AFCON 2015 qualifiers". cafonline.com. 7 January 2014.
  6. ^ "Engagement 2015" (PDF). cafonline.com.
  7. ^ a b "Decisions made by the CAF Executive Committee, convened January 24th 2014" (PDF). Cafonline.com. 26 January 2014.
  8. ^ "Press Release following CAF EXCO May 2013 meetings". cafonline.com. 16 May 2013.
  9. ^ a b c "Decisions of CAF Executive Committee on 21.02.2014" (PDF). Cafonline.com. 24 February 2014.
  10. ^ "Classification for the designation of the seeded teams for the qualifiers of AFCON 2015" (PDF). Cafonline.com.
  11. ^ "2014 Competitions Calendar" (PDF). Cafonline.com.
  12. ^ a b "Regulations of the Orange Africa Cup of Nations" (PDF). Confederation of African Football.
  13. ^ "Eritrea withdraws from Can 2015". Cafonline.com. 30 March 2014.
  14. ^ "Result of draw of 1st round of qualifiers". Cafonline.com. 27 April 2014.
  15. ^ "Fixtures of the 1st round" (PDF). Cafonline.com.
  16. ^ "Orange Africa Cup of Nations Morocco 2015 draw procedure". Cafonline.com. 26 April 2014.
  17. ^ "Equatorial Guinea disqualified from Orange Africa Cup of Nations Morocco 2015". Cafonline.com. 3 July 2014.
  18. ^ "Gambia suspended from all competitions for two years". Cafonline.com. 3 May 2014.
  19. ^ "Fixtures of the 2nd round" (PDF). Cafonline.com.
  20. ^ "Rwanda disqualified, Congo qualify". Cafonline.com. 17 August 2014.
  21. ^ "Orange CAN 2015: Seychelles withdraws". Cafonline.com. 31 July 2014.
  22. ^ "Nations Cup 2015: Seychelles forced to forfeit". BBC Sport. 31 July 2014.
  23. ^ "Result of Final Round of qualifiers". Cafonline.com. 27 April 2014.
  24. ^ "Fixtures of the final round" (PDF). Cafonline.com. 27 April 2014.
  25. ^ "Mali - Malawi postponed to Sunday". CAFonline.com. 6 September 2014.
  26. ^ "Ebola: Guinea, Sierra Leone to play on Neutral Grounds". Cafonline.com. 13 August 2014.
  27. ^ "Mohamed Hamada à la place d'Ali Lemghaifry pour le match Tunisie- Botswana". Mosaique FM. 5 September 2014.
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