Qualification for the 2024 African Nations Championship began on 25 October and will conclude on 29 December 2024 to determine the 19 nations, including co-host nations, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, expected to qualify for the final tournament.[1]
Teams
A total of 40 (out of 54) CAF member national teams entered qualification that was split into zones based on their regional affiliations and had its draw held on 9 October 2024 at CAF headquarters in Cairo, Egypt.[1]
Teams in italics received a bye to the second round in the qualifying draw.
(W): Withdrew after draw
Format
Qualification ties are played on a home-and-away two-legged basis. If the aggregate score is tied after the second leg, the away goals rule would be applied, and if still level, the penalty shoot-out would be used to determine the winner (no extra time would be played).[2]
Schedule
The schedule of the qualifying rounds is as follows.[1]
Zone / Round
Matchday
Date
Western Zone A Western Zone B Central Eastern Zone
Southern Zone
Central Zone
First round
—
First leg
25–27 October 2024
Second leg
31 October – 3 November 2024
Second round
First round
First leg
20–22 December 2024
Second leg
27–29 December 2024
Northern Zone
After Egypt and previous hosts Algeria withdrew before the draw, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia were the only teams entered: therefore, the Zone was scrapped and all three teams qualified automatically.[3] On 22 November 2024, Libya withdrew from the tournament due to fixture congestion and concerns that the national team's participation would halt the league, hence the Libyan Football Federation prioritized the league schedule over the CHAN.[4] On 28 November 2024, Tunisia also pulled out of the tournament following the clubs' rejection to the country's participation.[5]
Since the three hosts from this region have automatically qualified themselves, only the best performing nation (excluding the hosts) can additionally qualify for the 2024 African Nations Championship.[1]
