2018 FIFA World Cup qualification (CAF) explained

Tourney Name:2018 FIFA World Cup qualification (CAF)
Num Teams:54
Confederations:1
Top Scorer: Préjuce Nakoulma
Mohamed Salah
Prevseason:2014
Nextseason:2022

The African section of the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification acted as qualifiers for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, held in Russia, for national teams which were members of the Confederation of African Football (CAF). A total of five slots in the final tournament were available for CAF teams.[1]

The CAF Executive Committee approved the format for the qualifiers of the 2018 FIFA World Cup on 14 January 2015,[2] with three preliminary rounds before a final group stage featuring 20 teams. The number of preliminary rounds was reduced to two, based on information provided by FIFA in early July 2015.[3] [4]

Format

The qualification structure was as follows:[4] [5]

Entrants

All 54 FIFA-affiliated football associations from CAF entered qualification.[6] However, Zimbabwe were expelled from the competition on 12 March 2015 due to their failure to pay former coach José Claudinei a severance fee,[7] a decision that the Zimbabwe Football Association unsuccessfully appealed.[8] [9]

The July 2015 FIFA Rankings were used to seed the teams for the first two rounds, both of which were drawn in Russia on 25 July 2015.[4] (World rankings shown in brackets)[10]

Note: Niger had to enter the first round as they had fewer FIFA ranking points (345.31) than Benin (345.46) and Libya (345.35). In the FIFA World Rankings, teams share the same ranking if their ranking points round to the same whole number.

Schedule

The schedule of the competition was as follows.[11]

valign=top
RoundMatchdayDate
First roundFirst leg5–13 October 2015
Second leg
Second roundFirst leg9–17 November 2015
Second leg
valign=top
RoundMatchdayDate
Third roundMatchday 13–11 October 2016
Matchday 27–15 November 2016
Matchday 328 August – 5 September 2017
Matchday 4
Matchday 52–10 October 2017
Matchday 66–14 November 2017

First round

See main article: 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification – CAF first round.

The draw for the first round was held as part of the 2018 FIFA World Cup Preliminary Draw on 25 July 2015, starting 18:00 MSK (UTC+3), at the Konstantinovsky Palace in Strelna, Saint Petersburg, Russia.[12]

Second round

See main article: 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification – CAF second round.

The draw for the second round was held as part of the 2018 FIFA World Cup Preliminary Draw on 25 July 2015, starting 18:00 MSK (UTC+3), at the Konstantinovsky Palace in Strelna, Saint Petersburg, Russia.[12]

Third round

See main article: 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification – CAF third round.

The draw for the third round was held on 24 June 2016, 17:00 EET (UTC+2), at the CAF headquarters in Cairo, Egypt.[13]

Groups

Group E

Qualified teams

The following five teams qualified for the final tournament.

TeamQualified asQualified ondata-sort-type="number"Previous appearances in FIFA World Cup1
4 (1978, 1998, 2002, 2006)
5 (1994, 1998, 2002, 2010, 2014)
4 (1970, 1986, 1994, 1998)
1 (2002)
2 (1934, 1990)

Top goalscorers

Below are full goalscorer lists for each round:

Fan behaviour

After Morocco qualified for the tournament with a 2–0 victory over Ivory Coast, the celebrations by the Moroccan community in Brussels turned into a riot with cars burnt, shops looted by some 300 rioters and 20 police officers injured.[14] [15] Firefighters sent to put out the fires were also attacked by the rioters.[15]

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Current allocation of FIFA World Cup confederation slots maintained. FIFA.com. 30 May 2015. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20150530211217/http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/news/y=2015/m=5/news=current-allocation-of-fifa-world-cuptm-confederation-slots-maintained-2610611.html. 30 May 2015. dmy-all.
  2. Web site: FORMAT OF 2017 AFCON QUALIFIERS AND 2018 WORLD CUP . CAFonline.com . 22 January 2015 . 23 January 2015 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20150124021035/http://www.cafonline.com/en-US/NewsCenter/News/NewsDetails?id=KyeamNWKvZqSuInU5iJclQ%3D%3D . 24 January 2015 . dmy-all .
  3. Web site: Statistical Kit for the Preliminary Draw for the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia . FIFA.com . 3 July 2015 . 8 July 2015 . 11 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20150705143430/http://resources.fifa.com/mm/document/fifafacts/mencompwc/51/97/78/statskit1_fwc2018_preldraw_stats_neutral.pdf . 5 July 2015 . dmy-all .
  4. Web site: Preliminary Draw procedures outlined . fifa.com . 9 July 2015 . 9 July 2015 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20150711212044/http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/news/y=2015/m=7/news=preliminary-draw-procedures-outlined-2661542.html?intcmp=fifacom_hp_module_news . 11 July 2015 . dmy-all .
  5. Web site: Draw Procedures – African Zone. FIFA.com. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20150806182353/http://resources.fifa.com/mm/document/tournament/preliminarydraw/02/66/70/92/africa_drawprocedures_neutral.pdf. 6 August 2015. dmy-all.
  6. Web site: Road to Russia with new milestone. FIFA.com. 15 January 2015. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20150115183352/http://www.fifa.com//worldcup/russia2018/news/newsid=2507253/index.html. 15 January 2015. dmy-all.
  7. Web site: Zimbabwe expelled from the preliminary competition of the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia. FIFA.com. 12 March 2015. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20150317192003/http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/news/y=2015/m=3/news=zimbabwe-expelled-from-the-preliminary-competition-of-the-2018-fifa-wo-2557911.html/index.html. 17 March 2015. dmy-all.
  8. Web site: Zimbabwe expelled from 2018 World Cup. BBC Sport. 12 March 2015. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20150701062234/http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/31851586. 1 July 2015. dmy-all.
  9. News: Kausiyo. Petros. Zim expulsion stands...Warriors out of 2018 Fifa World Cup. Chronicle.co.zw. The Chronicle. 22 July 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20151014225020/http://www.chronicle.co.zw/zim-expulsion-stands-warriors-out-of-2018-fifa-world-cup/. 14 October 2015. 25 August 2018. live. dmy-all.
  10. Web site: FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking – July 2015 (CAF) . FIFA.com . Fédération Internationale de Football Association . 9 July 2015 . 9 July 2015 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20150713135612/http://www.fifa.com/fifa-world-ranking/ranking-table/men/rank=252/caf.html . 13 July 2015 . dmy-all .
  11. Web site: CAF Calendar - CAF Calendar of Events and Meetings 2015 . cafonline.com . 9 July 2015 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20150214161053/http://www.cafonline.com/en-US/caf/fullcafcalendar.aspx . 14 February 2015 .
  12. Web site: Results of FIFA World Cup Russia 2018 Preliminary Draw. CAF. 25 July 2015. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20171111203022/http://www.cafonline.com/en-US/NewsCenter/News/NewsDetails?id=B13xFtaCEa74gsyZcugvpA%3d%3d. 11 November 2017. dmy-all.
  13. Web site: June draw for third round of African Zone qualifiers. FIFA.com. 20 November 2015. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20160401220031/http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/news/y=2015/m=11/news=june-draw-for-third-round-of-african-zone-qualifiers-2733952.html. 1 April 2016. dmy-all.
  14. News: Brussels riot after Morocco football win. 12 November 2017. BBC News. 20 November 2017. en-GB. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20171120151328/http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-41961801. 20 November 2017. dmy-all.
  15. News: Cars burnt, police hurt in Brussels after Morocco World Cup success. 12 November 2017. Reuters. 20 November 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20171120022914/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-soccer-worldcup-civ-mar-brussels-riot/cars-burned-police-hurt-in-brussels-after-morocco-world-cup-success-idUSKBN1DC0EO. 20 November 2017. live. dmy-all.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "2018 FIFA World Cup qualification (CAF)".

Except where otherwise indicated, Everything.Explained.Today is © Copyright 2009-2025, A B Cryer, All Rights Reserved. Cookie policy.