2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers: format, participants, calendar and more

The group stage of qualifying for the upcoming 2025 Africa Cup of Nations kicks off on the 4th of September. The Dailysports team has prepared for you all the information you need to know about this tournament.

2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers: what is the format?

The selection takes place in two stages. The first is the preliminary stage. It involved the eight worst teams in the African confederation according to the FIFA ranking, but without Eritrea and Seychelles, who were excluded from the qualifying tournament. Its matches took place in March 2024 and it resulted in Eswatini, South Sudan, Chad and Liberia going further.

They joined the 44 teams that directly qualified for the group stage, the second and final stage of selection. These 48 teams were divided into 12 groups of four teams each. The top two teams in the group advance to the main tournament, along with tournament host Morocco.

The Moroccans take part in the qualifying tournament, but they already have a direct entry.

In the group stage, each team will play six matches, two against each of their opponents home and away.

2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers: which groups?

The draw, which took place on 4 July 2024, resulted in the following groups:

• Group A: Tunisia, Madagascar, Comoros, Gambia
• Group B: Morocco, Gabon, Central African Republic, Lesotho.
• Group C: Egypt, Cape Verde, Mauritania, Botswana.
• Group D: Nigeria, Benin, Libya, Rwanda
• Group E: Algeria, Equatorial Guinea, Togo, Liberia
• Group F: Ghana, Angola, Sudan, Niger
• Group G: Chad, Côte d'Ivoire, Sierra Leone, Zambia.
• Group H: DR Congo, Ethiopia, Guinea, Tanzania.
• Group I: Mali, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau, Eswatini.
• Group J: Cameroon, Namibia, Kenya, Zimbabwe.
• Group K: South Africa, Uganda, Congo, South Sudan
• Group L: Senegal, Burkina Faso, Malawi, Burundi

2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers: when will the matches be played?

So far, the Confederation of African Football has set the exact dates for only two matchdays. The matchday 1 will take place from 4-7 September. The matchday 2 will start immediately after the first on 8 September and will last until 10 September.

The dates of the remaining four matchdays have only the basic dates.

• Matchday 3: 11 October
• Matchday 4: 15 October
• Matchday 5: 11 November
• Matchday 5: 15 November

Recall that the main stage of the African Cup of Nations is scheduled to take place between 21 December 2025 and 18 January 2026. The current winner of the cup is Côte d'Ivoire.