2022 FIFA World Cup qualification (CAF)

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2022 FIFA World Cup qualification (CAF)
Tournament details
Dates4 September 2019 – 29 March 2022
Teams54 (from 1 confederation)
Tournament statistics
Matches played158
Goals scored361 (2.28 per match)
Attendance1,229,510 (7,782 per match)
Top scorer(s)Algeria Islam Slimani
(8 goals)
← 2018
2026 →
Qualification for championships (CAF)
FIFA World Cup
Africa Cup of Nations

The African section of the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification acted as qualifiers for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, to be held in Qatar, for national teams which are members of the Confederation of African Football (CAF). A total of five slots in the final tournament were available for CAF teams.[1]

Format

A previous proposal to merge the qualification rounds for the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations with those for the World Cup was turned down after a CAF meeting on 11 June 2018.[2]

CAF reverted to the format used for the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification competition.[3]

  • First round: 28 teams (ranked 27–54) played home-and-away over two legs. The 14 winners advanced to the second round.
  • Second round: 40 teams (ranked 1–26 and 14 first round winners) were divided into ten groups of four teams to play home-and-away round-robin matches. The ten group winners advanced to the third round.
  • Third round: Ten second round group winners played home-and-away over two legs. The five winners qualified for the World Cup.

Entrants

All 54 FIFA-affiliated football associations from CAF entered qualification. The FIFA World Rankings of July 2019 were used to determine which nations would compete in the first round. For seeding in the second and third round draws, the most recent FIFA Rankings prior to those draws were used.

Libya was threatened with exclusion from the qualifiers if it failed to pay debts to their former coach Javier Clemente. However, Libya complied after FIFA gave them a new deadline.[4] Sierra Leone also faced possible exclusion from the qualifiers due to the suspension of their football association.[5] However, the suspension was lifted by the FIFA Council on 3 June 2019.[6]

From the July 2019
FIFA World Rankings[7]
Bye to the second round
(ranked 1st to 26th) 		Competing in first round
(ranked 27th to 54th)
  1.  Senegal (20)
  2.  Tunisia (29)
  3.  Nigeria (33)
  4.  Algeria (40)
  5.  Morocco (41)
  6.  Egypt (46)
  7.  Ghana (50)
  8.  Cameroon (53)
  9.  DR Congo (56)
  10.  Ivory Coast (57)
  11.  Mali (59)
  12.  Burkina Faso (61)
  13.  South Africa (70)
  14.  Guinea (75)
  15.  Cape Verde (76)
  16.  Uganda (80)
  17.  Zambia (81)
  18.  Benin (82)
  19.  Gabon (90)
  20.  Congo (91)
  21.  Madagascar (96)
  22.  Niger (104)
  23.  Libya (105)
  24.  Mauritania (106)
  25.  Kenya (107)
  26.  Central African Republic (111)
  1.  Zimbabwe (112)
  2.  Sierra Leone (114)
  3.  Mozambique (116)
  4.  Namibia (121)
  5.  Angola (122)
  6.  Guinea-Bissau (123)
  7.  Malawi (126)
  8.  Togo (128)
  9.  Sudan (129)
  10.  Rwanda (133)
  11.  Tanzania (137)
  12.  Equatorial Guinea (139)
  13.  Eswatini (139)
  14.  Lesotho (144)
  15.  Comoros (146)
  16.  Botswana (147)
  17.  Burundi (148)
  18.  Ethiopia (150)
  19.  Liberia (152)
  20.  Mauritius (157)
  21.  Gambia (161)
  22.  South Sudan (169)
  23.  Chad (175)
  24.  São Tomé and Príncipe (185)
  25.  Seychelles (192)
  26.  Djibouti (195)
  27.  Somalia (202)
  28.  Eritrea (202)

Schedule

Below is the schedule of the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign, according to the FIFA International Match Calendar.[8][9] After the rescheduling of the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations final tournament from June/July to January/February, the dates of the matchdays 1–2 of the second round were also rescheduled.[10] Because of the interruption of the competition due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the schedule of the second and third round was revised again and on 19 August 2020 CAF announced the new dates for the aforementioned rounds.[11]

Stage Matchday Dates
First round First leg 4–7 September 2019
Second leg 8–10 September 2019
Second round Matchday 1 1–3 September 2021[a]
Matchday 2 5–7 September 2021[b]
Matchday 3 6–9 October 2021[c]
Matchday 4 10–12 October 2021[c]
Matchday 5 11–13 November 2021[d]
Matchday 6 14–16 November 2021[e]
Third round First leg 24–26 March 2022
Second leg 27–29 March 2022
  1. ^ Matchday 1 originally scheduled for 23–31 March 2020, later for 5–13 October 2020.
  2. ^ Matchday 2 originally scheduled for 1–9 June 2020, later for 9–17 November 2020.
  3. ^ a b Matchday 3 and 4 originally scheduled for 22–30 March 2021.
  4. ^ Matchday 5 originally scheduled for 30 August – 7 September 2021.
  5. ^ Matchday 6 originally scheduled for 4–12 October 2021.

First round

Main article: 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification – CAF first round

The draw for the first round was held on 29 July 2019 at 12:00 EST (UTC+2), at the CAF headquarters in Cairo, Egypt.[12][13]

Team 1
Agg.
Tooltip Aggregate score 		Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
Ethiopia  1–1 (a)  Lesotho 0–0 1–1
Somalia  2–3  Zimbabwe 1–0 1–3
Eritrea  1–4  Namibia 1–2 0–2
Burundi  2–2 (0–3 p)  Tanzania 1–1
a.e.t.
)
Djibouti  2–1  Eswatini 2–1 0–0
Botswana  0–1  Malawi 0–0 0–1
Gambia  1–3  Angola 0–1 1–2
Liberia  3–2  Sierra Leone 3–1 0–1
Mauritius  0–3  Mozambique 0–1 0–2
São Tomé and Príncipe  1–3  Guinea-Bissau 0–1 1–2
South Sudan  1–2  Equatorial Guinea 1–1 0–1
Comoros  1–3  Togo 1–1 0–2
Chad  1–3  Sudan 1–3 0–0
Seychelles  0–10  Rwanda 0–3 0–7

Second round

Main article: 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification – CAF second round

The draw for the second round was held on 21 January 2020, 19:00 CAT (UTC+2), at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Cairo, Egypt.[14]

Group A

Pos Team
 Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Algeria 6 4 2 0 25 4 +21 14 Advance to third round — 2–2 6–1 8–0
2  Burkina Faso 6 3 3 0 12 4 +8 12 1–1 — 1–1 2–0
3  Niger 6 2 1 3 13 17 −4 7 0–4 0–2 — 7–2
4  Djibouti 6 0 0 6 4 29 −25 0 0–4 0–4 2–4 —
Source: FIFA, Soccerway
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers

Group B

Pos Team
 Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Tunisia 6 4 1 1 11 2 +9 13 Advance to third round — 3–0 3–1 3–0
2  Equatorial Guinea 6 3 2 1 6 5 +1 11 1–0 — 2–0 1–0
3  Zambia 6 2 1 3 8 9 −1 7 0–2 1–1 — 4–0
4  Mauritania 6 0 2 4 2 11 −9 2 0–0 1–1 1–2 —
Source: FIFA, Soccerway
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers

Group C

Pos Team
 Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Nigeria 6 4 1 1 9 3 +6 13 Advance to third round — 1–1 2–0 0–1
2  Cape Verde 6 3 2 1 8 6 +2 11 1–2 — 1–0 2–1
3  Liberia 6 2 0 4 5 8 −3 6 0–2 1–2 — 3–1
4  Central African Republic 6 1 1 4 4 9 −5 4 0–2 1–1 0–1 —
Source: FIFA, Soccerway
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers

Group D

Pos Team
 Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Cameroon 6 5 0 1 12 3 +9 15 Advance to third round — 1–0 3–1 2–0
2  Ivory Coast 6 4 1 1 10 3 +7 13 2–1 — 3–0 2–1
3  Mozambique 6 1 1 4 2 8 −6 4 0–1 0–0 — 1–0
4  Malawi 6 1 0 5 2 12 −10 3 0–4 0–3 1–0 —
Source: FIFA, Soccerway
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers

Group E

Pos Team
 Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Mali 6 5 1 0 11 0 +11 16 Advance to third round — 1–0 5–0 1–0
2  Uganda 6 2 3 1 3 2 +1 9 0–0 — 1–1 1–0
3  Kenya 6 1 3 2 4 9 −5 6 0–1 0–0 — 2–1
4  Rwanda 6 0 1 5 2 9 −7 1 0–3 0–1 1–1 —
Source: FIFA, Soccerway
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers

Group F

Pos Team
 Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Egypt 6 4 2 0 10 4 +6 14 Advance to third round — 2–1 1–0 1–0
2  Gabon 6 2 1 3 7 8 −1 7 1–1 — 1–0 2–0
3  Libya 6 2 1 3 4 7 −3 7 0–3 2–1 — 1–1
4  Angola 6 1 2 3 6 8 −2 5 2–2 3–1 0–1 —
Source: FIFA, Soccerway
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers

Group G

Pos Team
 Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Ghana 6 4 1 1 7 3 +4 13 Advance to third round — 1–0[a] 1–0 3–1
2  South Africa 6 4 1 1 6 2 +4 13 1–0 — 1–0 1–0
3  Ethiopia 6 1 2 3 4 7 −3 5 1–1 1–3 — 1–0
4  Zimbabwe 6 0 2 4 2 7 −5 2 0–1 0–0 1–1 —
Source: FIFA, Soccerway
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers
Notes:
  1. ^ An appeal by the South African Football Association alleging that the match had been fixed was declared inadmissible by FIFA.[15][16][17]

Group H

Pos Team
 Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Senegal 6 5 1 0 15 4 +11 16 Advance to third round — 2–0 4–1 2–0
2  Togo 6 2 2 2 5 6 −1 8 1–1 — 0–1 1–1
3  Namibia 6 1 2 3 5 10 −5 5 1–3 0–1 — 1–1
4  Congo 6 0 3 3 5 10 −5 3 1–3 1–2 1–1 —
Source: FIFA, Soccerway
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers

Group I

Pos Team
 Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Morocco 6 6 0 0 20 1 +19 18 Advance to third round — 5–0 3–0 2–0
2  Guinea-Bissau 6 1 3 2 5 11 −6 6 0–3 — 1–1 0–0
3  Guinea 6 0 4 2 5 11 −6 4 1–4 0–0 — 2–2
4  Sudan 6 0 3 3 5 12 −7 3 0–3 2–4 1–1 —
Source: FIFA, Soccerway
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers

Group J

Pos Team
 Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  DR Congo 6 3 2 1 9 3 +6 11 Advance to third round — 2–0[a] 1–1 2–0
2  Benin 6 3 1 2 5 4 +1 10 1–1 — 0–1 2–0
3  Tanzania 6 2 2 2 6 8 −2 8 0–3 0–1 — 3–2
4  Madagascar 6 1 1 4 4 9 −5 4 1–0 0–1 1–1 —
Source: FIFA, Soccerway
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers
Notes:
  1. ^ An appeal by the Benin Football Federation alleging that DR Congo had violated the substitution rules in the match was declared inadmissible by FIFA.[18][17]

Third round

Main article: 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification – CAF third round

The ten group winners from the second round were drawn into five home-and-away ties, with the teams seeded based on FIFA World Rankings. The draw was held on 22 January 2022 in Douala, Cameroon.[19] The lower ranked team played the first leg at home. The winners of each fixture qualified for the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

Team 1
Agg.
Tooltip Aggregate score 		Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
Egypt  1–1 (1–3 p)  Senegal 1–0
a.e.t.
)
Cameroon  2–2 (a)  Algeria 0–1
a.e.t.
)
Ghana  1–1 (a)  Nigeria 0–0 1–1
DR Congo  2–5  Morocco 1–1 1–4
Mali  0–1  Tunisia 0–1 0–0

Qualified teams

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

Team Qualified as Qualified on Previous appearances in FIFA World Cup
 Ghana Third round winners 29 March 2022 3 (2006, 2010, 2014)
 Senegal Third round winners 29 March 2022 2 (2002, 2018)
 Tunisia Third round winners 29 March 2022 5 (1978, 1998, 2002, 2006, 2018)
 Morocco Third round winners 29 March 2022 5 (1970, 1986, 1994, 1998, 2018)
 Cameroon Third round winners 29 March 2022 7 (1982, 1990, 1994, 1998, 2002, 2010, 2014)

Top goalscorers

There were 362 goals scored in 158 matches, for an average of 2.29 goals per match.

8 goals

5 goals

4 goals

Below are full goalscorer lists for each round:

Media coverage

2022 FIFA World Cup qualification (CAF) coverage
Country Television Channel
 France L'Équipe
 Germany Sportdigital
 Saudi Arabia SSC
 Norway V Sport Football
 Spain ESPN

References

  1. ^ "Current allocation of FIFA World Cup confederation slots maintained". FIFA. 30 May 2015. Archived from the original on 30 May 2015.
  2. ^ "CAF turns down idea to pair World Cup 2022, AFCON 2021 qualifiers". Futaa. 12 June 2018. Archived from the original on 29 November 2020. Retrieved 14 February 2019.
  3. ^ "CAF reverts to previous format for 2022 African World Cup qualifiers". Ahram Newspaper (english web version). 10 July 2019.
  4. ^ "Libya pays debts to former national soccer team coach". The Libya Observer. 20 January 2018. Archived from the original on 26 November 2020. Retrieved 29 March 2019.
  5. ^ "FIFA suspends the Sierra Leone Football Association". FIFA. 5 October 2018. Archived from the original on 8 October 2018.
  6. ^ "FIFA Council appoints Qatar as host of the FIFA Club World Cup in 2019 and 2020" (Press release). FIFA. 3 June 2019. Archived from the original on 3 June 2019. Retrieved 3 June 2019.
  7. ^ "FIFA Men's Ranking – July 2019 (CAF)". FIFA.com. 25 July 2019. Archived from the original on August 13, 2019.
  8. ^ "INTERNATIONAL MATCH CALENDAR 2018-2024" (PDF). FIFA. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 March 2020. Retrieved 28 July 2020.
  9. ^ "INTERNATIONAL MATCH CALENDAR 2020-2024" (PDF). FIFA. Archived (PDF) from the original on 3 January 2021. Retrieved 18 August 2020.
  10. ^ "CAF reschedules dates of Nations Cup and World Cup qualifiers". Ahram Online. 16 January 2020.
  11. ^ "Cameroon 2021 qualifiers resume November, Qatar 2022 set for May 2021". cafonline.com. 19 August 2020.
  12. ^ "204 member associations in contention for FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 berths". FIFA.com. FIFA. 16 July 2019. Retrieved 17 July 2019.
  13. ^ "CAF to Hold Draw for 2022 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers on Monday". Sada ElBalad English. 22 July 2019. Retrieved 22 July 2019.
  14. ^ "FIFA World Cup 2022 qualifiers: draws to take centre stage in South America and Africa". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 11 December 2019. Retrieved 11 December 2019.
  15. ^ "South Africa claim betting spike during Ghana World Cup qualifying game". BBC. 17 November 2021. Retrieved 26 November 2021.
  16. ^ Ntloko, Mninawa (22 November 2021). "D-Day for SA as Fifa committee meets to decide Bafana's World Cup fate". TimesLIVE.
  17. ^ a b "Protests by South Africa and Benin dismissed by FIFA". Fresno Bee. 4 December 2021.[permanent dead link]
  18. ^ "Fifa confirms receipt of Benin protest over DR Congo substitutes". BBC. 17 November 2021. Retrieved 22 November 2021.
  19. ^ "Dates for FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 African Qualifiers and TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations 2023 draws announced". CAF. 8 January 2022.

External links

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