2012 Africa Cup of Nations qualification explained

This page details the process of the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations qualification phase. Forty-six African nations, including hosts Gabon and Equatorial Guinea, entered the competition. Gabon and Equatorial Guinea automatically qualified as host countries. The other 44 nations were drawn into eleven groups, each containing 4 teams. Togo was later added to Group K after its reinstatement.

In each group, teams played each other home and away in a round-robin format. The top team in each group qualified, as did the runner-up of Group K (which contained 5 teams) and the two best runners-up from the other groups.^[1]

Qualified teams

The teams qualified are:

width=17%	Country !	width=17%	Qualified as!	width=17%	Date qualification was secured !	width=49%	Previous appearances in tournament
	00Co-hosts	0329 July 2007	4 (1994, 1996, 2000, 2010)
	00Co-hosts	0329 July 2007	0 (debut)
	01Group K Winner	0026 March 2011	0 (debut)
	01Group H Winner	005 June 2011	18 (1965, 1968, 1970, 1974, 1980, 1984², 1986, 1988, 1990, 1992¹, 1994, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2006, 2008, 2010)
	01Group F Winner	003 September 2011	7 (1978, 1996, 1998², 2000, 2002, 2004, 2010)
	01Group E Winner	03 September 2011	11 (1965, 1968, 1986, 1990, 1992², 1994, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008)
	01Group I Winner	008 October 2011	17 (*1963¹², 1965¹, 1968, 1970, 1978¹², 1980, 1982¹, 1984, 1992, 1994, 1996, 1998, 2000², 2002, 2006, 2008*², 2010)
	01Group B Winner	008 October 2011	10 (1970, 1974, 1976, 1980, 1984, 1994, 1998, 2006, 2004, 2008)
	01Group C Winner	008 October 2011	14 (1974, 1978, 1982, 1986, 1990, 1992, 1994, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2006, 2008, 2010)
	01Top Two Runner-up	008 October 2011	2 (1982², 2006)
	01Group J Winner	008 October 2011	5 (1996, 1998, 2006, 2008, 2010²)
	01Group K Runner-up	008 October 2011	14 (1962, 1963, 1965², 1978, 1982, 1994², 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, *2004*¹², 2006, 2008, 2010)
	01Group A Winner	008 October 2011	6 (1972, 1994, 2002², 2004, 2008, 2010)
	01Group G Winner	008 October 2011	0 (debut)
	01Group D Winner	009 October 2011	13 (1972, 1976¹, 1978, 1980, 1986, 1988², 1992, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008)
	01Top Two Runner-up	009 October 2011	7 (1957², 1959, 1963, *1970*¹², 1972, 1976, 2008)

¹ Bold indicates champion for that year

² Italic indicates host

Draw

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) conducted the draw for the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying campaign on 20 February 2010. The draw was held in Lubumbashi, Congo DR where the CAF Super Cup was held on 21 February 2010.^[2] The 11 teams in Pot 1 were selected based on their ranking after the 27th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations in Angola. The rest were ranked based on their position at the latest FIFA Ranking.^[3] ^[4]

width=25%	Pot 1	width=25%	Pot 2	width=25%	Pot 3	width=25%	Pot 4

Notes

Togo was initially banned from competing in the tournament and was thus not involved in the draw, but they were later reinstated and added to Group K (see below).
Did not enter:,,,,, .

Togolese Ban

Togo were banned from the 2012 and 2013 Africa Cup of Nations tournaments by CAF after they withdrew from the 2010 tournament following a deadly attack on their team bus.^[5]

Togo appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, with FIFA president Sepp Blatter stepping in to mediate. The ban was subsequently lifted with immediate effect on 14 May 2010, after a meeting of the CAF Executive Committee. Togo were readmitted to the 2012 and 2013 tournaments, and (in the case of the 2012 qualifiers) added to the qualification stage.^[6]

Tie-breaking rules

The order of tie-breakers used when two or more team have the equal number of points is:^[7] (article 14)

Number of points obtained in games between the teams concerned;
Goal difference in games between the teams concerned;
Goals scored in games between the teams concerned;
Away goals scored in games between the teams concerned;
Goal difference in all games;
Goals scored in all games;
Drawing of lots.

Qualifying group stage

Group A

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Group B

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Group C

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Notes

Note 1: Postponed from 4 September 2010, due to the late arrival of match officials.^[8] Note 2: Originally to be played at Tripoli, Libya but moved to neutral venue due to the political situation in Libya.^[9] ^[10]

Group D

Note: The ranking of the Central African Republic and Algeria by their head-to-head records is shown below. As they could not be separated on these criteria, ranking was based on overall goal difference.

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Group E

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Group F

Mauritania withdrew from 2012 Africa Cup of Nations qualification before any match was played.^[11]

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Notes

The Namibia Football Association made a formal complaint that Burkina Faso fielded an ineligible player, Yaoundé-born Herve Xavier Zengue, in the games on 26 March and 4 June.^[12] Burkina Faso coach Paulo Duarte says that the player is eligible as he has a Burkinabé wife.^[13] CAF opened an investigation,^[14] but later dismissed the protest saying it was filed long after the stipulated period for such appeals.^[15]
Namibia indicated that they would appeal the decision to CAF and, if necessary, to the Court of Arbitration for Sport on two different points. Firstly that an appeal had been filed with the match referee prior to their game with Burkina Faso but had not been forwarded to CAF and secondly that such an appeal was in any case not required due to article 36.12 of the competition regulations which stated that "non-qualified or a suspended player to take part in group matches shall lose the match by penalty (3–0), even in the absence of protests/reservations".^[16]
On 10 January 2012, their appeal was dismissed by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.^[17]

Group G

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Notes

The South African Football Association lodged a complaint against their elimination, claiming that goal difference should be used to decide on the group winner, as it is "the traditional way of determining a log standing".^[18] The South African team had believed they had qualified when the final whistle was blown following their 0–0 draw with Sierra Leone.^[19] The SAFA later withdrew its appeal.^[20]

Group H

Note: The ranking of Burundi and Benin by their head-to-head records is shown below. As they could not be separated on these criteria, ranking was based on overall goal difference.

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Notes

Note 3: Originally to be played at Abidjan, Ivory Coast but moved to neutral venue due to the political situation in Côte d'Ivoire.^[9]

Group I

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Group J

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Group K

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Ranking of group runners-up

The two best runners-up from Groups A–J qualify for the 2012 ACN. After the withdrawal of Mauritania from Group F, the following rule applies:^[11]

The two best runners-up are determined by the following parameters in this order:^[21]

Highest number of points
Goal difference
Highest number of goals scored
Match replay in case of parity

Goalscorers

There were 327 goals scored in 130 games for an average of 2.52 goals per game.

6 goals

Issam Jemâa

5 goals

4 goals

3 goals

2 goals

1 goal

1 own goal

Eric Nkulukuta (playing against Cameroon)
Ben Teekloh (playing against Mali)
Joye Estazie (playing against Senegal)
Richard Gariseb (playing against Burkina Faso)

External links

Africa Cup of Nations at CAFonline.com

Notes and References

Web site: Orange Can 2012 : Amendments of fixtures to accommodate Togo's reinstatement. CAF. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20100518185959/http://www.cafonline.com/competition/african-cup-of-nations_2012/news/5558-orange-can-2012--amendments-of-fixtures-to-accommodate-togos-reinstatement.html. 18 May 2010.
Web site: Africa Cup of Nations 2012 seeding formula . https://web.archive.org/web/20100223181627/http://malawi.worldcupblog.org/team-news/africa-cup-of-nations-2012-seeding-formula.html . dead . 23 February 2010 . World Cup Blog . 17 February 2010 . 17 February 2010 .
Web site: Formidable 2012 Orange ACN Eliminatories . CAF . 22 February 2010 . 22 February 2010 . https://web.archive.org/web/20100328094525/http://www.cafonline.com/competition/african-cup-of-nations-angola_2010/news/4792-formidable-2012-orange-acn-eliminatories.html . 28 March 2010 . dead .
Web site: Full schedule of qualifying matches. International football journalism.
News: Togo officially disqualified from Africa Cup of Nations. 11 January 2010. BBC Sport. 14 May 2010.
News: Togo's African Cup ban is lifted. 14 May 2010. BBC Sport. 14 May 2010. https://web.archive.org/web/20160112085019/http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/africa/8682511.stm. 12 January 2016. live.
Web site: CAF – CAF Error Page. Confederation of African Football online.com.
Web site: CAF – CAF Error Page. CAF.
Web site: CAF – CAF Error Page. CAF.
Web site: CAF – CAF Error Page. CAF.
Web site: CAF – CAF Error Page. CAF.
Web site: Gleeson. Mark. Mbengue gets all clear for Senegal debut. https://web.archive.org/web/20120928112446/http://af.reuters.com/article/senegalNews/idAFB1090420110604?sp=true. dead. 28 September 2012. Reuters. 5 June 2011. 4 June 2011.
Web site: Namibia play Burkina Faso under protest. SuperSport. 5 June 2011. 4 June 2011.
Web site: CAF investigates Burkina Faso's player eligibility following Namibia's claim. CAFonline.com. 11 June 2011. 9 June 2011.
Web site: Burkina cleared for Africa Cup of Nations. BBC.com. 29 October 2011. 28 October 2011.
Web site: Namibia appeal set to affect 2012 Africa Cup of Nations. BBC.com. 31 October 2011. 31 October 2011.
Web site: MEDIA RELEASE. Court of Arbitration for Sport. 10 January 2012. https://web.archive.org/web/20121103210507/http://www.tas-cas.org/d2wfiles/document/5548/5048/0/Media20Release20265420final20_2012.01.pdf. 3 November 2012. dead. dmy-all.
Web site: SAFA officially files protest. News24. 12 October 2011. 10 October 2011.
Web site: Massive FAIL: South Africa celebrate qualification for AFCON 2012… but didn’t read the small print. News24. 9 October 2011. 9 October 2011. https://web.archive.org/web/20111010031846/http://www.101greatgoals.com/massive-fail-south-africa-celebrate-qualification-for-afcon-2012-but-didnt-read-the-small-print/109822/. 10 October 2011. dead.
Web site: Safa withdraws appeal, apologises for Nations Cup crash. BBC.com. 19 October 2011. 19 October 2011.
Web site: CAF – CAF Error Page. CAF.