2018 FIFA World Cup qualification (CAF)

The African section of the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification acted as qualifiers for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, to be held in Russia, for national teams which are members of the Confederation of African Football (CAF). A total of 5 slots in the final tournament were available for CAF teams.[1]

2018 FIFA World Cup qualification (CAF)
Tournament details
Dates7 October 2015 – 14 November 2017
Teams54 (from 1 confederation)
Tournament statistics
Matches played127
Goals scored309 (2.43 per match)
Attendance2,862,856 (22,542 per match)
Top scorer(s) Préjuce Nakoulma
Mohamed Salah
(5 goals each)
Qualification for championships (CAF)
FIFA World Cup
Africa Cup of Nations

The CAF Executive Committee approved the format for the qualifiers of the 2018 FIFA World Cup on 14 January 2015,[2] with three preliminary rounds before a final group stage featuring 20 teams. The number of preliminary rounds was reduced to two, based on information provided by FIFA in early July 2015.[3][4]

Format

The qualification structure was as follows:[4][5]

  • First round: A total of 26 teams (teams ranked 28–53) played home-and-away over two legs. The 13 winners advanced to the second round.
  • Second round: A total of 40 teams (teams ranked 1–27 and 13 first round winners) played home-and-away over two legs. The 20 winners advanced to the third round.
  • Third round: The 20 teams which had advanced from the second round were divided into five groups of four teams to play home-and-away round-robin matches. The winners of each group qualified for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

Entrants

All 54 FIFA-affiliated football associations from CAF entered qualification.[6] However, Zimbabwe were expelled from the competition on 12 March 2015 due to their failure to pay former coach José Claudinei a severance fee,[7] a decision that the Zimbabwe Football Association unsuccessfully appealed against.[8][9]

The July 2015 FIFA Rankings were used to seed the teams for the first two rounds, both of which were drawn in Russia on 25 July 2015.[4] (World rankings shown in brackets)[10]

From the July 2015 FIFA World Rankings[10]
Bye to second round
(ranked 1st to 27th)		 Competing in first round
(ranked 28th to 54th)
  1.  Algeria (19)
  2.  Ivory Coast (21)
  3.  Ghana (25)
  4.  Tunisia (32)
  5.  Senegal (39)
  6.  Cameroon (42)
  7.  Congo (47)
  8.  Cape Verde (52)
  9.  Egypt (55)
  10.  Nigeria (57)
  11.  Guinea (58)
  12.  DR Congo (60)
  13.  Mali (61)
  14.  Equatorial Guinea (63)
  15.  Gabon (65)
  16.  South Africa (70)
  17.  Zambia (71)
  18.  Burkina Faso (72)
  19.  Uganda (73)
  20.  Rwanda (78)
  21.  Togo (83)
  22.  Morocco (84)
  23.  Sudan (90)
  24.  Angola (92)
  25.  Mozambique (95)
  26.  Benin (96)
  27.  Libya (96)
  1.  Niger (96)
  2.  Ethiopia (101)
  3.  Malawi (108)
  4.  Sierra Leone (111)
  5.  Zimbabwe (112)
  6.  Namibia (114)
  7.  Kenya (116)
  8.  Botswana (120)
  9.  Madagascar (122)
  10.  Mauritania (128)
  11.  Burundi (131)
  12.  Lesotho (131)
  13.  Guinea-Bissau (133)
  14.  Swaziland (138)
  15.  Tanzania (139)
  16.  Gambia (143)
  17.  Liberia (161)
  18.  Central African Republic (170)
  19.  Chad (173)
  20.  Mauritius (180)
  21.  Seychelles (186)
  22.  Comoros (187)
  23.  São Tomé and Príncipe (189)
  24.  South Sudan (195)
  25.  Eritrea (204)
  26.  Somalia (205)
  27.  Djibouti (207)

Note: Niger had to enter the first round as they had fewer FIFA ranking points (345.31) than Benin (345.46) and Libya (345.35). In the FIFA World Rankings, teams share the same ranking if their ranking points round to the same whole number.

Schedule

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

Round Matchday Date
First round First leg 5–13 October 2015
Second leg
Second round First leg 9–17 November 2015
Second leg
Round Matchday Date
Third round Matchday 1 3–11 October 2016
Matchday 2 7–15 November 2016
Matchday 3 28 August – 5 September 2017
Matchday 4
Matchday 5 2–10 October 2017
Matchday 6 6–14 November 2017

First round
Main article: 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification – CAF First Round

The draw for the first round was held as part of the 2018 FIFA World Cup Preliminary Draw on 25 July 2015, starting 18:00 MSK (UTC+3), at the Konstantinovsky Palace in Strelna, Saint Petersburg, Russia.[12]

Team 1 Agg. Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
Somalia  0–6  Niger 0–2 0–4
South Sudan  1–5  Mauritania 1–1 0–4
Gambia  2–3  Namibia 1–1 1–2
São Tomé and Príncipe  1–3  Ethiopia 1–0 0–3
Chad  2–2 (a)  Sierra Leone 1–0 1–2
Comoros  1–1 (a)  Lesotho 0–0 1–1
Djibouti  1–8  Swaziland 0–6 1–2
Eritrea  1–5  Botswana 0–2 1–3
Seychelles  0–3  Burundi 0–1 0–2
Liberia  4–2  Guinea-Bissau 1–1 3–1
Central African Republic  2–5  Madagascar 0–3 2–2
Mauritius  2–5  Kenya 2–5 0–0
Tanzania  2–1  Malawi 2–0 0–1

Second round
Main article: 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification – CAF Second Round

The draw for the second round was held as part of the 2018 FIFA World Cup Preliminary Draw on 25 July 2015, starting 18:00 MSK (UTC+3), at the Konstantinovsky Palace in Strelna, Saint Petersburg, Russia.[12]

Team 1 Agg. Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
Niger  0–3  Cameroon 0–3 0–0
Mauritania  2–4  Tunisia 1–2 1–2
Namibia  0–3  Guinea 0–1 0–2
Ethiopia  4–6  Congo 3–4 1–2
Chad  1–4  Egypt 1–0 0–4
Comoros  0–2  Ghana 0–0 0–2
Swaziland  0–2  Nigeria 0–0 0–2
Botswana  2–3  Mali 2–1 0–2
Burundi  2–6  DR Congo 2–3 0–3[note 1]
Liberia  0–4  Ivory Coast 0–1 0–3
Madagascar  2–5  Senegal 2–2 0–3
Kenya  1–2  Cape Verde 1–0 0–2
Tanzania  2–9  Algeria 2–2 0–7
Sudan  0–3  Zambia 0–1 0–2
Libya  4–1  Rwanda 1–0 3–1
Morocco  2–1  Equatorial Guinea 2–0 0–1
Mozambique  1–1 (3–4 p)  Gabon 1–0 0–1 (a.e.t.)
Benin  2–3  Burkina Faso 2–1 0–2
Togo  0–4  Uganda 0–1 0–3
Angola  1–4  South Africa 1–3 0–1

Third round
Main article: 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification – CAF Third Round

The draw for the third round was held on 24 June 2016, 17:00 EET (UTC+2), at the CAF headquarters in Cairo, Egypt.[14]

Groups

Group A
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Tunisia 6 4 2 0 11 4 +7 14 Qualification to 2018 FIFA World Cup — 2–1 0–0 2–0
2  DR Congo 6 4 1 1 14 7 +7 13 2–2 — 4–0 3–1
3  Libya 6 1 1 4 4 10 −6 4 0–1 1–2 — 0–1
4  Guinea 6 1 0 5 6 14 −8 3 1–4 1–2 3–2 —
Source: FIFA

Group B
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Nigeria 6 4 1 1 11 6 +5 13 Qualification to 2018 FIFA World Cup — 1–0 4–0 3–1
2  Zambia 6 2 2 2 8 7 +1 8 1–2 — 2–2 3–1
3  Cameroon 6 1 4 1 7 9 −2 7 1–1 1–1 — 2–0
4  Algeria 6 1 1 4 6 10 −4 4 3–0[lower-alpha 1] 0–1 1–1 —
Source: FIFA
Notes:
  1. FIFA awarded Algeria a 3–0 win as a result of Nigeria fielding the ineligible player Shehu Abdullahi, after the match had ended in a 1–1 draw. Abdullahi failed to serve a one-game ban after receiving two yellow cards in the qualifying competition.[16]

Group C
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Morocco 6 3 3 0 11 0 +11 12 Qualification to 2018 FIFA World Cup — 0–0 6–0 3–0
2  Ivory Coast 6 2 2 2 7 5 +2 8 0–2 — 3–1 1–2
3  Mali 6 1 3 2 2 8 −6 6 0–0 0–0 — 0–0
4  Gabon 6 1 3 2 1 8 −7 6 0–0 0–3 0–1 —
Source: FIFA

Group D
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Senegal 6 4 2 0 10 3 +7 14 Qualification to 2018 FIFA World Cup — 0–0 2–0 2–1
2  Burkina Faso 6 2 3 1 10 6 +4 9 2–2 — 4–0 1–1
3  Cape Verde 6 2 0 4 4 12 −8 6 0–2 0–2 — 2–1
4  South Africa 6 1 1 4 7 10 −3 4 0–2[lower-alpha 1] 3–1 1–2 —
Source: FIFA
Notes:
  1. FIFA ordered a replay of the original South Africa v Senegal match after the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) upheld the lifetime ban of match referee Joseph Lamptey. Originally South Africa had defeated Senegal 2–1.[17]

Group E
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Egypt 6 4 1 1 8 4 +4 13 Qualification to 2018 FIFA World Cup — 1–0 2–0 2–1
2  Uganda 6 2 3 1 3 2 +1 9 1–0 — 0–0 1–0
3  Ghana 6 1 4 1 7 5 +2 7 1–1 0–0 — 1–1
4  Congo 6 0 2 4 5 12 −7 2 1–2 1–1 1–5 —
Source: FIFA

Qualified teams

The following five teams from CAF qualified for the final tournament.

Team Qualified as Qualified on Previous appearances in FIFA World Cup1
 TunisiaGroup A winners11 November 20174 (1978, 1998, 2002, 2006)
 NigeriaGroup B winners7 October 20175 (1994, 1998, 2002, 2010, 2014)
 MoroccoGroup C winners11 November 20174 (1970, 1986, 1994, 1998)
 SenegalGroup D winners10 November 20171 (2002)
 EgyptGroup E winners8 October 20172 (1934, 1990)
1 Bold indicates champions for that year. Italic indicates hosts for that year.

Top goalscorers
5 goals
4 goals

For full lists of goalscorers, see sections in each round:

Fan behaviour

After Morocco qualified for the tournament with a 2–0 victory over Ivory Coast, the celebrations by the Moroccan community in Brussels turned into a riot with cars burnt, shops looted by some 300 rioters and 20 police officers injured.[18][19] Firefighters sent to put out the fires were also attacked by the rioters.[19]

Notes
  1. FIFA awarded Congo DR a 3–0 win as a result of Burundi fielding the ineligible player Gaël Bigirimana.[13] The match originally ended 2–2.

References
  1. "Current allocation of FIFA World Cup™ confederation slots maintained". FIFA.com. 30 May 2015. Archived from the original on 30 May 2015.
  2. "FORMAT OF 2017 AFCON QUALIFIERS AND 2018 WORLD CUP". CAFonline.com. 22 January 2015. Archived from the original on 24 January 2015. Retrieved 23 January 2015.
  3. "Statistical Kit for the Preliminary Draw for the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia" (PDF). FIFA.com. 3 July 2015. p. 11. Archived (PDF) from the original on 5 July 2015. Retrieved 8 July 2015.
  4. "Preliminary Draw procedures outlined". fifa.com. 9 July 2015. Archived from the original on 11 July 2015. Retrieved 9 July 2015.
  5. "Draw Procedures – African Zone" (PDF). FIFA.com. Archived (PDF) from the original on 6 August 2015.
  6. "Road to Russia with new milestone". FIFA.com. 15 January 2015. Archived from the original on 15 January 2015.
  7. "Zimbabwe expelled from the preliminary competition of the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia". FIFA.com. 12 March 2015. Archived from the original on 17 March 2015.
  8. "Zimbabwe expelled from 2018 World Cup". BBC Sport. 12 March 2015. Archived from the original on 1 July 2015.
  9. Kausiyo, Petros (22 July 2015). "Zim expulsion stands...Warriors out of 2018 Fifa World Cup". Chronicle.co.zw. The Chronicle. Archived from the original on 14 October 2015. Retrieved 25 August 2018.
  10. "FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking – July 2015 (CAF)". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 9 July 2015. Archived from the original on 13 July 2015. Retrieved 9 July 2015.
  11. "CAF Calendar - CAF Calendar of Events and Meetings 2015". cafonline.com. Archived from the original on 14 February 2015. Retrieved 9 July 2015.
  12. "Results of FIFA World Cup Russia 2018 Preliminary Draw". CAF. 25 July 2015. Archived from the original on 11 November 2017.
  13. "DISCIPLINARY OVERVIEW – 2018 FIFA WORLD CUP RUSSIA™ QUALIFIERS" (PDF). FIFA. 12 December 2017. Retrieved 11 June 2018.
  14. "June draw for third round of African Zone qualifiers". FIFA.com. 20 November 2015. Archived from the original on 1 April 2016.
  15. "Regulations – 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia" (PDF). FIFA.com.
  16. "Latest decisions of the FIFA Disciplinary Committee". FIFA.com. 12 December 2017.
  17. "South Africa vs. Senegal World Cup qualifier to be replayed in November". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 6 September 2017. Retrieved 6 September 2017.
  18. "Brussels riot after Morocco football win". BBC News. 12 November 2017. Archived from the original on 20 November 2017. Retrieved 20 November 2017.
  19. "Cars burnt, police hurt in Brussels after Morocco World Cup success". Reuters. 12 November 2017. Archived from the original on 20 November 2017. Retrieved 20 November 2017.
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