2020 Women's Africa Cup of Nations qualification explained

Tourney Name:	Women's Africa Cup of Nations qualification
Year:	2020
Dates:	Cancelled (originally 6 April – 9 June 2020)
Num Teams:	36
Prevseason:	2018
Nextseason:	2022

Qualification for the 2020 Women's Africa Cup of Nations was scheduled to run from 6 April to 9 June 2020 with 12 teams, including the host nation team, participating in the group stages for the first time in the tournament.^[1] However, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) decided to cancel this edition due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Africa and rather launch the CAF Women's Champions League, which began the following year, i.e. 2021.^{[2] [3]}

Format

Qualification ties were to be played on a home-and-away two-legged basis. If the aggregate score was tied after the second leg, the away goals rule would be applied, even to the extent of a penalty shoot-out, with extra time skipped, to determine the winner.^[4]

Schedule

The first round of matches was originally scheduled for 8 – 14 April 2020, but CAF announced its postponement until further notice on 13 March 2020 at the onset of the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in Africa.^[5]

The second round of matches were originally scheduled for 1 – 9 June 2020, but on 3 April 2020, FIFA had recommended that all international matches scheduled for June that year be postponed.^[6] With qualification not held, CAF announced the cancellation of this edition of the tournament on 30 June 2020, making history in the process as the first African continent-centric football event or competition that was cancelled or not held for global health reasons.

Draw

A then-record of 36 (out of 54) CAF member national teams entered qualification, whose draw was held on 4 December 2019 at the CAF headquarters in Cairo, Egypt.^{[7] [8] [9]} The draw procedures were as follows:^[10]

• In the first round, the 28 teams were drawn into 14 ties, with teams divided into four pots based on their geographical zones and those in the same pot drawn to play against each other.
• In the second round, the 14 preliminary round winners and the eight teams receiving byes to the second round were allocated into 11 ties based on the first round tie numbers, with eight first round winners playing against the eight teams receiving byes, and the other six first round winners playing against each other.

Notes

• Teams in bold qualified for the group stages.
• (W): Withdrew after draw

Did not enter

Bracket

The 11 winners of the second round would have qualified for the main phase of the 2020 Women's Africa Cup of Nations.

First round

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Second round

Winners would have qualified for the main phase of the 2020 Women's Africa Cup of Nations.

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Notes and References

1. Web site: Ahmadu. Samuel. 4 December 2019. Record entry as Caf releases African Women's Cup of Nations qualifying fixtures and dates. Goal.com. 1 February 2020.
2. Web site: 30 June 2020. Decisions of CAF Executive Meeting – 30 June 2020. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20200701010652/https://www.cafonline.com/news-center/news/decisions-of-caf-executive-meeting-30-june-2020. 1 July 2020. CAFOnline.com. 1 July 2020.
3. Web site: Ahmadu. Samuel. 30 June 2020. Caf cancels 2020 Africa Women's Cup of Nations, launches Women's Champions League. Goal.com. 30 June 2020.
4. Web site: 20 October 2020. Regulations of the Women's Africa Cup of Nations. CAFOnline.com. 1 November 2023.
5. Web site: 13 March 2020. Total AFCON 2021 qualifiers postponed. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20200316154323/https://www.cafonline.com/news-center/news/total-afcon-2021-qualifiers-postponed. 16 March 2020. CAFOnline.com. 13 March 2020.
6. Web site: 3 April 2020. Dedicated COVID-19 working group proposes recommendations after first meeting. FIFA. 3 April 2020.
7. Web site: 4 December 2019. CAF draws lots for the Total Women AFCON 2020 and preliminaries for FIFA U-17 & U-20 Women's World Cup 2020. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20200111053212/https://www.cafonline.com/news-center/news/caf-draws-lots-for-the-total-women-afcon-2020-and-preliminaries-for-fifa-u-17-u-. 11 January 2020. CAFOnline.com. 11 January 2020.
8. Web site: 6 December 2019. Draw 2020 U-17 FIFA Women's World Cup Qualifiers. Confederation of African Football. Facebook. 11 January 2020.
9. Web site: 5 December 2019. Fixtures for 2020 Women's AFCON Qualification. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20200111053227/https://images.cafonline.com/image/upload/caf-prd/myaity2rh8szsobewgig.pdf. 11 January 2020. CAFOnline.com. 11 January 2020.
10. Web site: 28 November 2019. Draw Procedures for the 2020 Women's AFCON Qualifiers. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20200111053241/https://images.cafonline.com/image/upload/caf-prd/r6mok4k4jqgsjoumshrz.pdf. 11 January 2020. CAFOnline.com. 11 January 2020.