2019 Africa U-23 Cup of Nations qualification

Tournament details
Dates	12 November 2018 – 10 September 2019
Teams	43 (from 1 confederation)
Tournament statistics
Matches played	66
Goals scored	157 (2.38 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Fashion Sakala (5 goals)
← 2015 2023 →

The 2019 Africa U-23 Cup of Nations qualification was a men's under-23 football competition, which decided the participating teams of the 2019 Africa U-23 Cup of Nations.

Players born 1 January 1997 or later were eligible to participate in the competition. A total of eight teams qualified to play in the final tournament, including Egypt who qualified automatically as hosts.^[1] These matches also served as the first stage of the CAF qualifiers for the 2020 Summer Olympics men's football tournament in Japan.

Apart from Egypt, the remaining 53 members of CAF were eligible to enter the qualifying competition, and a total of 43 national teams were in the qualifying draw, which was announced on 2 October 2018.^[2] The 13 teams which had the best performance in the 2015 Africa U-23 Cup of Nations final tournament and qualifying competition were given a bye to the second round.

Final tournament hosts	Bye to second round (13 teams)	First round entrants (30 teams)
Egypt	Algeria  Congo  Gabon  Ivory Coast  Mali  Morocco  Nigeria  Senegal  Sierra Leone (D)  South Africa  Tunisia  Zambia  Zimbabwe	Angola  Botswana  Burkina Faso  Burundi  Cameroon  Chad  DR Congo (D)  Equatorial Guinea  Eswatini  Ethiopia  Gambia (W)  Ghana  Guinea  Kenya  Libya  Malawi  Mauritania  Mauritius  Mozambique  Namibia (W)  Niger  Rwanda  São Tomé and Príncipe  Seychelles  Somalia  South Sudan  Sudan  Tanzania  Togo  Uganda

Notes

• Teams in bold qualified for the final tournament.
• (D): Disqualified after draw
• (W): Withdrew after draw

Did not enter

Qualification ties were played on a home-and-away, two-legged basis. If the aggregate score was tied after the second leg, away goals rule was applied, and if still tied, penalty shoot-out (no extra time) was used to determine the winner.

The schedule of the qualifying rounds was as follows.^[3] All matches were played during the FIFA International Window. The third round was originally scheduled for 3–11 June 2019 but was rescheduled to 2–10 September 2019 due to the proximity of its initial dates to the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations between 21 June and 19 July.^[4]

Round	Leg	Date
First round	First leg	12–20 November 2018
	Second leg
Second round	First leg	18–26 March 2019
	Second leg
Third round	First leg	2–10 September 2019
	Second leg

The bracket of the draw was announced by the CAF on 2 October 2018.^[2][3]

The seven winners of the third round qualified for the final tournament.

	First round						Second round						Third round
	Angola	—	—	w/o
	Namibia	—	—
							Angola	1	0	1
							South Africa	3	3	6
													South Africa	5	0	5
													Zimbabwe	0	0	0
	Mozambique (a)	0	1	1
	Eswatini	0	1	1
							Mozambique	0	0	0
							Zimbabwe	0	2	2

	First round						Second round						Third round
	Botswana	1	1	2
	Malawi	2	1	3
							Malawi	0	0	0
							Zambia	1	1	2
													Zambia	2	3	5
													Congo	1	3	4
	Burundi (a)	2	1	3
	Tanzania	0	3	3
							Burundi	0	1	1
							Congo	0	2	2

	First round						Second round						Third round
	Ghana	5	0	5
	Togo	1	1	2
							Ghana	4	0	4
							Gabon	0	0	0
													Ghana	1	1	2
													Algeria	1	0	1
	Equatorial Guinea	1	3	4
	São Tomé and Príncipe	1	1	2
							Equatorial Guinea	0	1	1
							Algeria	0	3	3

	First round						Second round						Third round
	Cameroon	3	1	4
	Chad	0	1	1
							Cameroon	—	—	w/o
							Sierra Leone	—	—
													Cameroon (a)	1	1	2
													Tunisia	0	2	2
	Uganda	1	0	1
	South Sudan	0	2	2
							South Sudan	0	0	0
							Tunisia	0	1	1

	First round						Second round						Third round
	Burkina Faso	1	1	2
	Niger	1	3	4
							Niger	1	1	2
							Ivory Coast	2	6	8
													Ivory Coast (a)	0	2	2
													Guinea	1	1	2
	Mauritania	1	1	2
	Guinea	2	4	6
							Guinea	2	0	2
							Senegal	1	0	1

	First round						Second round						Third round
	Seychelles	1	0	1
	Sudan	1	1	2
							Sudan	2	0	2
							Kenya	0	0	0
	Kenya	5	3	8
	Mauritius	0	1	1
													Sudan	1	0	1
													Nigeria	0	5	5
	Libya	—	—	w/o
	Gambia	—	—
							Libya	2	0	2
							Nigeria	0	4	4

	First round						Second round						Third round
	Rwanda	0	0	0
	DR Congo	0	5	5
							DR Congo[note 1]	2	0	2 w/o
							Morocco	0	1	1 w/o
													Morocco	1	0	1
													Mali	1	1	2
	Ethiopia	4	0	4
	Somalia	0	1	1
							Ethiopia	1	0	1
							Mali	1	4	5

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Angola	w/o	Namibia	—	—
Mozambique	1–1 (a)	Eswatini	0–0	1–1
Botswana	2–3	Malawi	1–2	1–1
Burundi	3–3 (a)	Tanzania	2–0	1–3
Ghana	5–2	Togo	5–1	0–1
Equatorial Guinea	4–2	São Tomé and Príncipe	1–1	3–1
Cameroon	4–1	Chad	3–0	1–1
Uganda	1–2	South Sudan	1–0	0–2
Burkina Faso	2–4	Niger	1–1	1–3
Mauritania	2–6	Guinea	1–2	1–4
Seychelles	1–2	Sudan	1–1	0–1
Kenya	8–1	Mauritius	5–0	3–1
Libya	w/o	Gambia	—	—
Rwanda	0–5	DR Congo	0–0	0–5
Ethiopia	4–1	Somalia	4–0	0–1

Angola won on walkover after Namibia withdrew.^[5]

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1–1 on aggregate. Mozambique won on away goals.

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Malawi won 3–2 on aggregate.

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3–3 on aggregate. Burundi won on away goals.

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Ghana won 5–2 on aggregate.

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Equatorial Guinea won 4–2 on aggregate.

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Cameroon won 4–1 on aggregate.

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South Sudan won 2–1 on aggregate.

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Niger won 4–2 on aggregate.

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Guinea won 6–2 on aggregate.

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Sudan won 2–1 on aggregate.

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Kenya won 8–1 on aggregate.

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Libya won on walkover after Gambia withdrew.^[7]

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DR Congo won 5–0 on aggregate.

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Ethiopia won 4–1 on aggregate.

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Angola	1–6	South Africa	1–3	0–3
Mozambique	0–2	Zimbabwe	0–0	0–2
Malawi	0–2	Zambia	0–1	0–1
Burundi	1–2	Congo	0–0	1–2
Ghana	4–0	Gabon	4–0	0–0
Equatorial Guinea	1–3	Algeria	0–0	1–3
Cameroon	w/o	Sierra Leone	—	—
South Sudan	0–1	Tunisia	0–0	0–1
Niger	2–8	Ivory Coast	1–2	1–6
Guinea	2–1	Senegal	2–1	0–0
Sudan	2–0	Kenya	2–0	0–0
Libya	2–4	Nigeria	2–0	0–4
DR Congo	2–1 w/o[note 1]	Morocco	2–0	0–1
Ethiopia	1–5	Mali	1–1	0–4

South Africa won 6–1 on aggregate.

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Zimbabwe won 2–0 on aggregate.

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Zambia won 2–0 on aggregate.

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Congo won 2–1 on aggregate.

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Ghana won 4–0 on aggregate.

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Algeria won 3–1 on aggregate.

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Cameroon won on walkover due to FIFA's suspension of the Sierra Leone Football Association.^[8]

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Tunisia won 1–0 on aggregate.

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Ivory Coast won 8–2 on aggregate.

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Guinea won 2–1 on aggregate.

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Sudan won 2–0 on aggregate.

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Nigeria won 4–2 on aggregate.

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DR Congo won 2–1 on aggregate. However, they were later disqualified for fielding an ineligible (overaged) player, and Morocco won on walkover.^[9]

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Mali won 5–1 on aggregate.

Winners qualified for 2019 Africa U-23 Cup of Nations.^[10]

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
South Africa	5–0	Zimbabwe	5–0	0–0
Zambia	5–4	Congo	2–1	3–3
Ghana	2–1	Algeria	1–1	1–0
Cameroon	2–2 (a)	Tunisia	1–0	1–2
Ivory Coast	2–2 (a)	Guinea	0–1	2–1
Sudan	1–5	Nigeria	1–0	0–5
Morocco	1–2	Mali	1–1	0–1

South Africa won 5–0 on aggregate.

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Zambia won 5–4 on aggregate.

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Ghana won 2–1 on aggregate.

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2–2 on aggregate. Cameroon won on away goals.

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2–2 on aggregate. Ivory Coast won on away goals.

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Nigeria won 5–1 on aggregate.

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Mali won 2–1 on aggregate.

The following eight teams qualified for the final tournament.

Team	Qualified on	Previous appearances in Africa U-23 Cup of Nations1
Egypt (hosts)	23 June 2017[1]	2 (2011, 2015)
South Africa	10 September 2019	2 (2011, 2015)
Zambia	8 September 2019	1 (2015)
Ghana	10 September 2019	0 (debut)
Cameroon	10 September 2019	0 (debut)
Ivory Coast	10 September 2019	1 (2011)
Nigeria	10 September 2019	2 (2011, 2015)
Mali	10 September 2019	1 (2015)

¹ Bold indicates champions for that year. Italic indicates hosts for that year.

There were 157 goals scored in 66 matches, for an average of 2.38 goals per match.

5 goals

4 goals

3 goals

2 goals

1 goal

1 own goal

• Qualifiers Of Total U-23 Africa Cup Of Nations, CAFOnline.com