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AFCON qualifiers 2023 fixtures, results, groups, teams, and how it works ahead of Ivory Coast 2024

There are 54 African countries battling for the 24 berths available to the next Africa Cup of Nations tournament (AFCON) to be held beginning in January 2024 in the Ivory Coast. 

Defending champions Senegal will be facing fierce competition from fellow African powers Egypt, Algeria, Cameroon, Morocco, host nation Ivory Coast, and others as they look to become the first back-to-back AFCON champions since Egypt won three straight in 2006, 2008, and 2010.

To reach the AFCON finals in 2024, nations must progress through qualifying, which can be ruthless in deciding which countries achieve a spot in the tournament. 

The Sporting News brings you all the necessary details about how AFCON qualifying works, when the matches are, and how they play out.

Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers format

To qualify for AFCON, teams must progress through a group stage style qualification format.

First, the lowest-ranked teams must push through a preliminary stage which narrows the field. The preliminary stage consists of 12 teams paired up into six matchups, which are contested across two legs. The losers on aggregate are eliminated, while the six winners advance to the 44-team group stage.

Once that 48-team group stage is set, the field is split into 12 groups of four, with each group contesting a full six-match round robin.

The top two finishers in each group advance to AFCON, while the bottom two in each group are eliminated. This produces the 24 qualifiers who will reach the final tournament.

Ivory Coast have already qualified for AFCON as hosts, but they still contest the qualification matches. Their group, Group H, will produce only one official qualifier, meaning the highest finisher outside of Ivory Coast (of the three participants Zambia, Comoros, and Lesotho) will earn the group’s lone spot.

Africa Cup of Nations 2023 qualifier fixtures, results

Preliminary round

The higher-ranked teams among the preliminary round participants were seeded in the draw, and played the second leg at home. The games were contested in late March of 2022.

In March of 2022, Eritrea announced it would withdraw from AFCON 2023 qualification. No reason for the decision was announced. The nation has not contested a senior international fixture since a friendly against Sudan in 2020, while their last competitive fixture was in 2019 against Namibia in 2022 World Cup qualifying.

There was controversy around the matchup between Sao Tome & Principe and Mauritius. Sao Tome & Principe won the first leg 1-0, but goalscorer Luis Leal was accused of breaching COVID-19 regulations, which saw their opponents awarded a 3-0 result via forfeit. However, an appeal saw the decision overturned, and that proved decisive as Sao Tome & Principe would advance on an aggregate score of 4-3 after a second leg draw. They were the only unseeded team to advance through the preliminary round.

In the table below, the result of each leg is listed with the home team’s score first. The team to advance is bolded.

Unseeded Aggregate Seeded 1st leg 2nd leg
Eritrea cancelled Botswana
Sao Tome & Principe 4-3 Mauritius 1-0 3-3
Djibouti 2-5 South Sudan 2-4 1-0
Seychelles 1-3 Lesotho 0-0 3-1
Somalia 1-5 Eswatini 0-3 2-1
Chad 2-3 Gambia 0-1 2-2

Qualifying Groups

The 48 remaining nations were split up into 12 groups of four at the draw on April 19, 2022. The countries were split into four pots of 12 teams each, broken down by FIFA rankings, with each group consisting of one team from each pot.

Kenya (Pot 2) and Zimbabwe (Pot 3) were under FIFA suspension at the time of the draw, but were included anyways, with the understanding that should they still be under suspension by a deadline of two weeks before the first qualifying matches in June of 2022, they would be disqualified.

Neither suspended nation was able to reverse their position by the deadline, seeing both countries eliminated from the competition. Their groups (Group C and Group K) will still progress two qualifiers to the finals, meaning only one participant in each group will be eliminated.

A number of these fixtures are being played at neutral venues, with Morocco and South Africa serving as a popular destinations, especially for matches involving nations that do not have facilities which meet the international football standards.

Group A table, standings

Pos Team Pts W-D-L GD
1. Nigeria 6 2-0-0 +11
2. Guinea-Bissau 4 1-1-0 +4
3. Sierra Leone 1 0-1-1 -1
4. Sao Tome & Principe 0 0-0-2 -14

Group A fixtures, results

Date Match Time (UTC +1)
Jun. 9, 2022 Guinea-Bissau 5-1 Sao Tome & Principe HIGHLIGHTS
Jun. 9, 2022 Nigeria 2-1 Sierra Leone HIGHLIGHTS
Jun. 13, 2022 Sao Tome & Principe 0-10 Nigeria HIGHLIGHTS
Jun. 13, 2022 Sierra Leone 2-2 Guinea-Bissau
Mar. 22, 2023 Sierra Leone vs. Sao Tome & Principe 18:00
Mar. 24, 2023 Nigeria vs. Guinea-Bissau 14:00
Mar. 26, 2023 Sao Tome & Principe vs. Sierra Leone 16:00
Mar. 27, 2023 Guinea-Bissau vs. Nigeria 18:00
TBD (Jun. 2023) Sierra Leone vs. Nigeria TBD
TBD (Jun. 2023) Sao Tome & Principe vs. Guinea-Bissau TBD
TBD (Sep. 2023) Nigeria vs. Sao Tome & Principe TBD
TBD (Sep. 2023) Guinea-Bissau vs. Sierra Leone TBD

Group B table, standings

Pos Team Pts W-D-L GD
1. Burkina Faso 6 2-0-0 +4
2. Cape Verde 3 1-0-1 0
3. Eswatini 1 0-1-1 -2
4. Togo 1 0-1-1 -2

Group B fixtures, results

Date Match Time (UTC +1)
Jun. 3, 2022 Togo 2-2 Eswatini HIGHLIGHTS
Jun. 3, 2022 Burkina Faso 2-0 Cape Verde HIGHLIGHTS
Jun. 7, 2022 Eswatini 1-3 Burkina Faso HIGHLIGHTS
Jun. 7, 2022 Cape Verde 2-0 Togo HIGHLIGHTS
Mar. 24, 2023 Cape Verde vs. Eswatini 17:00
Mar. 24, 2023 Burkina Faso vs. Togo 21:00
Mar. 28, 2023 Eswatini vs. Cape Verde 15:00
Mar. 28, 2023 Togo vs. Burkina Faso 21:00
TBD (Jun. 2023) Cape Verde vs. Burkina Faso TBD
TBD (Jun. 2023) Eswatini vs. Togo TBD
TBD (Sep. 2023) Burkina Faso vs. Eswatini TBD
TBD (Sep. 2023) Togo vs. Cape Verde TBD

Group C table, standings

Pos Team Pts W-D-L GD
1. Cameroon 3 1-0-0 +1
2. Burundi 1 0-1-1 -1
3. Namibia 1 0-1-0 0
4. Kenya

Group C  fixtures, results

Date Match Time (UTC +1)
Jun. 4, 2022 Namibia 1-1 Burundi HIGHLIGHTS
Jun. 9, 2022 Burundi 0-1 Cameroon HIGHLIGHTS
Mar. 23, 2023 Cameroon vs. Namibia 17:00
Mar. 28, 2023 Namibia vs. Cameroon 15:00
TBD (Jun. 2023) Burundi vs. Namibia TBD
TBD (Sep. 2023) Cameroon vs. Namibia TBD

Group D table, standings

Pos Team Pts W-D-L GD
1. Ethiopia 3 1-0-1 +1
2. Malawi 3 1-0-1 0
3. Guinea 3 1-0-1 0
4. Egypt 3 1-0-1 -1

Group D fixtures, results

Date Match Time (UTC +1)
Jun. 5, 2022 Malawi 2-1 Ethiopia HIGHLIGHTS
Jun. 5, 2022 Egypt 1-0 Guinea HIGHLIGHTS
Jun. 9, 2022 Guinea 1-0 Malawi HIGHLIGHTS
Jun. 9, 2022 Ethiopia 2-0 Egypt HIGHLIGHTS
Mar. 24, 2023 Guinea vs. Ethiopia 15:00
Mar. 24, 2023 Egypt vs. Malawi 20:00
Mar. 27, 2023 Ethiopia vs. Guinea 22:00
Mar. 28, 2023 Malawi vs. Egypt 15:00
TBD (Jun. 2023) Guinea vs. Egypt TBD
TBD (Jun. 2023) Ethiopia vs. Malawi TBD
TBD (Sep. 2023) Egypt vs. Ethiopia TBD
TBD (Sep. 2023) Malawi vs. Guinea TBD

Group E  table, standings

Pos Team Pts W-D-L GD
1. Ghana 4 1-1-0 +3
2. Angola 4 1-1-0 +1
3. Central African Rep. 1 0-1-1 -1
4. Madagascar 1 0-1-1 -3

Group E  fixtures, results

Date Match Time (UTC +1)
Jun. 1, 2022 Angola 2-1 Central African Rep. HIGHLIGHTS
Jun. 1, 2022 Ghana 3-0 Madagascar HIGHLIGHTS
Jun. 5, 2022 Central African Rep. 1-1 Ghana HIGHLIGHTS
Jun. 5, 2022 Madagascar 1-1 Angola HIGHLIGHTS
Mar. 23, 2023 Madagascar vs. Central African Rep. 14:00
Mar. 23, 2023 Ghana vs. Angola 17:00
Mar. 27, 2023 Central African Rep. vs. Madagascar 15:00
Mar. 27, 2023 Angola vs. Ghana 18:00
TBD (Jun. 2023) Madagascar vs. Ghana TBD
TBD (Jun. 2023) Central African Rep. vs. Angola TBD
TBD (Sep. 2023) Ghana vs. Central African Rep. TBD
TBD (Sep. 2023) Angola vs. Madagascar TBD

Group F table, standings

Pos Team Pts W-D-L GD
1. Algeria 6 2-0-0 +4
2. Niger 2 0-2-0 0
3. Tanzania 1 0-1-1 -2
4. Uganda 1 0-1-1 -2

Group F fixtures, results

Date Match Time (UTC +1)
Jun. 4, 2022 Niger 1-1 Tanzania HIGHLIGHTS
Jun. 4, 2022 Algeria 2-0 Uganda HIGHLIGHTS
Jun. 8, 2022 Uganda 1-1 Niger HIGHLIGHTS
Jun. 8, 2022 Tanzania 0-2 Algeria HIGHLIGHTS
Mar. 23, 2023 Algeria vs. Niger 22:00
Mar. 24, 2023 Uganda vs. Tanzania 15:00
Mar. 27, 2023 Niger vs. Algeria 17:00
Mar. 28, 2023 Tanzania vs. Uganda 18:00
TBD (Jun. 2023) Tanzania vs. Niger TBD
TBD (Jun. 2023) Uganda vs. Algeria TBD
TBD (Sep. 2023) Algeria vs. Tanzania TBD
TBD (Sep. 2023) Niger vs. Uganda TBD

Group G table, standings

Pos Team Pts W-D-L GD
1. Mali 6 2-0-0 +6
2. Congo 3 1-0-1 -3
3. Gambia 3 1-0-1 0
4. South Sudan 0 0-0-2 -3

Group G  fixtures, results

Date Match Time (UTC +1)
Jun. 4, 2022 Gambia 1-0 South Sudan HIGHLIGHTS
Jun. 4, 2022 Mali 4-0 Congo HIGHLIGHTS
Jun. 8, 2022 Congo 1-0 Gambia HIGHLIGHTS
Jun. 9, 2022 South Sudan 1-3 Mali HIGHLIGHTS
Mar. 23, 2023 Congo vs. South Sudan 17:00
Mar. 24, 2023 Mali vs. Gambia 20:00
Mar. 27, 2023 South Sudan vs. Congo 15:00
Mar. 28, 2023 Gambia vs. Mali 19:00
TBD (Jun. 2023) Congo vs. Mali TBD
TBD (Jun. 2023) South Sudan vs. Gambia TBD
TBD (Sep. 2023) Mali vs. South Sudan TBD
TBD (Sep. 2023) Gambia vs. Congo TBD

Group H table, standings

Pos Team Pts W-D-L GD
1. Ivory Coast 4 1-1-0 +2
2. Zambia 3 1-0-1 -1
3. Comoros 3 1-0-1 +1
4. Lesotho 1 0-1-1 -2

Group fixtures, results

Date Match Time (UTC +1)
Jun. 3, 2022 Comoros 2-0 Lesotho
Jun. 3, 2022 Ivory Coast 3-1 Zambia HIGHLIGHTS
Jun. 7, 2022 Zambia 2-1 Comoros HIGHLIGHTS
Jun. 9, 2022 Lesotho 0-0 Ivory Coast HIGHLIGHTS
Mar. 23, 2023 Zambia vs. Lesotho 17:00
Mar. 24, 2023 Ivory Coast vs. Comoros 17:00
Mar. 26, 2023 Lesotho vs. Zambia 15:00
Mar. 28, 2023 Comoros vs. Ivory Coast 15:00
TBD (Jun. 2023) Zambia vs. Ivory Coast TBD
TBD (Jun. 2023) Lesotho vs. Comoros TBD
TBD (Sep. 2023) Ivory Coast vs. Lesotho TBD
TBD (Sep. 2023) Comoros vs. Zambia TBD

Group I table, standings

Pos Team Pts W-D-L GD
1. Mauritania 4 1-1-0 +3
2. Gabon 4 1-1-0 +1
3. Sudan 3 1-0-1 -2
4. DR Congo 0 0-0-2 -2

Group I fixtures, results

Date Match Time (UTC +1)
Jun. 4, 2022 Mauritania 3-0 Sudan HIGHLIGHTS
Jun. 4, 2022 DR Congo 0-1 Gabon HIGHLIGHTS
Jun. 8, 2022 Gabon 0-0 Mauritania HIGHLIGHTS
Jun. 8, 2022 Sudan 2-1 DR Congo HIGHLIGHTS
Mar. 23, 2023 Gabon vs. Sudan 20:00
Mar. 24, 2023 DR Congo vs. Mauritania 17:00
Mar. 27, 2023 Sudan vs. Gabon 18:00
Mar. 29, 2023 Mauritania vs. DR Congo TBD
TBD (Jun. 2023) Gabon vs. DR Congo TBD
TBD (Jun. 2023) Sudan vs. Mauritania TBD
TBD (Sep. 2023) DR Congo vs. Sudan TBD
TBD (Sep. 2023) Mauritania vs. Gabon TBD

Group J table, standings

Pos Team Pts W-D-L GD
1. Tunisia 4 1-1-0 +4
2. Libya 3 1-0-1 -1
3. Equatorial Guinea 3 1-0-1 -2
4. Botswana 1 0-1-1 -1

Group J fixtures, results

Date Match Time (UTC +1)
Jun. 1, 2022 Libya 1-0 Botswana HIGHLIGHTS
Jun. 2, 2022 Tunisia 4-0 Equatorial Guinea HIGHLIGHTS
Jun. 5, 2022 Botswana 0-0 Tunisia HIGHLIGHTS
Jun. 6, 2022 Equatorial Guinea 2-0 Libya HIGHLIGHTS
Mar. 24, 2023 Equatorial Guinea vs. Botswana 20:00
Mar. 24, 2023 Tunisia vs. Libya 21:30
Mar. 28, 2023 Botswana vs. Equatorial Guinea 15:00
Mar. 28, 2023 Libya vs. Tunisia 22:00
TBD (Jun. 2023) Equatorial Guinea vs. Tunisia TBD
TBD (Jun. 2023) Botswana vs. Libya TBD
TBD (Sep. 2023) Tunisia vs. Botswana TBD
TBD (Sep. 2023) Libya vs. Equatorial Guinea TBD

Group K table, standings

Pos Team Pts W-D-L GD
1. Morocco 6 2-0-0 +3
2. South Africa 0 0-0-1 -1
3. Liberia 0 0-0-1 -2
4. Zimbabwe

Group K fixtures, results

Date Match Time (UTC +1)
Jun. 9, 2022 Morocco 2-1 South Africa HIGHLIGHTS
Jun. 13, 2022 Liberia 0-2 Morocco HIGHLIGHTS
Mar. 24, 2023 South Africa vs. Liberia 17:00
Mar. 28, 2023 Liberia vs. South Africa 18:00
TBD (Jun. 2023) South Africa vs. Morocco TBD
TBD (Sep. 2023) Morocco vs. Liberia TBD

Group L table, standings

Pos Team Pts W-D-L GD
1. Senegal 6 2-0-0 +3
2. Mozambique 4 1-1-0 +1
3. Rwanda 1 0-1-1 -1
4. Benin 0 0-0-2 -3

Group L fixtures, results

Date Match Time (UTC +1)
Jun. 2, 2022 Mozambique 1-1 Rwanda HIGHLIGHTS
Jun. 4, 2022 Senegal 3-1 Benin HIGHLIGHTS
Jun. 7, 2022 Rwanda 0-1 Senegal HIGHLIGHTS
Jun. 8, 2022 Benin 0-1 Mozambique HIGHLIGHTS
Mar. 22, 2023 Benin vs. Rwanda 16:00
Mar. 24, 2023 Senegal vs. Mozambique 20:00
Mar. 27, 2023 Rwanda vs. Benin 15:00
Mar. 28, 2023 Mozambique vs. Senegal 18:00
TBD (Jun. 2023) Benin vs. Senegal TBD
TBD (Jun. 2023) Rwanda vs. Mozambique TBD
TBD (Sep. 2023) Senegal vs. Rwanda TBD
TBD (Sep. 2023) Mozambique vs. Benin TBD


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