2022 FIFA World Cup qualification (CAF)
{{short description|none}}
{{Infobox international football competition
| tourney_name = 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification (CAF)
| dates = {{nowrap|4 September 2019 – 29 March 2022}}
| num_teams = 54
| confederations = 1
| matches = {{#expr: 28 +120 +10}}
| goals = {{#expr: 57 +288 +16}}
| attendance = {{#expr: + 48000 + 15000 + 4000 + 13000 + 20000 + 4200 + 22000 + 55000 + 10000 + 1500 + 14000 + 23700 + 21000 + 17000 + 40000 + 43000 + 5700 + 1900 + 4000 + 20000 + 2000 + 6700 + 3000 + 25000 + 30000 + 17500 + 1300 + 20000 + 281010 + 460000 }}
| top_scorer = {{fbicon|ALG}} Islam Slimani
(8 goals)
| prevseason = 2018
| nextseason = 2026
|image=2022 FIFA World Cup African qualification.png}}
{{Qualification for championships (CAF)|expanded=FIFA}}
The African section of the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification acted as qualifiers for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, to be held in Qatar, for national teams which are members of the Confederation of African Football (CAF). A total of five slots in the final tournament were available for CAF teams.{{cite web|url=https://www.fifa.com/worldcup/news/y=2015/m=5/news=current-allocation-of-fifa-world-cuptm-confederation-slots-maintained-2610611.html|title=Current allocation of FIFA World Cup confederation slots maintained|publisher=FIFA|date=30 May 2015|url-status=dead|archiveurl=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|archivedate=30 May 2015|df=dmy-all}}
Format
A previous proposal to merge the qualification rounds for the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations with those for the World Cup was turned down after a CAF meeting on 11 June 2018.{{cite news|url=https://futaa.com/article/156514/caf-turns-down-idea-to-pair-world-cup-2022-afcon-2021-qualifiers|title=CAF turns down idea to pair World Cup 2022, AFCON 2021 qualifiers|publisher=Futaa|date=12 June 2018|access-date=14 February 2019|archive-date=29 November 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201129162959/https://futaa.com/article/156514/caf-turns-down-idea-to-pair-world-cup-2022-afcon-2021-qualifiers|url-status=dead}}
CAF reverted to the format used for the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification competition.{{cite web|url=http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/6/54/337773/Sports/Africa/CAF-reverts-to-previous-format-for--African-World-.aspx|title=CAF reverts to previous format for 2022 African World Cup qualifiers|publisher=Ahram Newspaper (english web version)|date=10 July 2019}}
- First round: 28 teams (ranked 27–54) played home-and-away over two legs. The 14 winners advanced to the second round.
- Second round: 40 teams (ranked 1–26 and 14 first round winners) were divided into ten groups of four teams to play home-and-away round-robin matches. The ten group winners advanced to the third round.
- Third round: Ten second round group winners played home-and-away over two legs. The five winners qualified for the World Cup.
Entrants
All 54 FIFA-affiliated football associations from CAF entered qualification. The FIFA World Rankings of July 2019 were used to determine which nations would compete in the first round. For seeding in the second and third round draws, the most recent FIFA Rankings prior to those draws were used.
Libya was threatened with exclusion from the qualifiers if it failed to pay debts to their former coach Javier Clemente. However, Libya complied after FIFA gave them a new deadline.{{Cite web|url=https://www.libyaobserver.ly/inbrief/libya-pays-debts-former-national-soccer-team-coach|title=Libya pays debts to former national soccer team coach|website=The Libya Observer|date=20 January 2018|access-date=29 March 2019|archive-date=26 November 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201126042533/https://www.libyaobserver.ly/inbrief/libya-pays-debts-former-national-soccer-team-coach|url-status=dead}} Sierra Leone also faced possible exclusion from the qualifiers due to the suspension of their football association.{{cite web|url=https://www.fifa.com/governance/news/y=2018/m=10/news=fifa-suspends-the-sierra-leone-football-association.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181008121218/https://www.fifa.com/governance/news/y=2018/m=10/news=fifa-suspends-the-sierra-leone-football-association.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=8 October 2018|title=FIFA suspends the Sierra Leone Football Association|publisher=FIFA|date=5 October 2018}} However, the suspension was lifted by the FIFA Council on 3 June 2019.{{cite press release |url=https://www.fifa.com/about-fifa/who-we-are/news/fifa-council-appoints-qatar-as-host-of-the-fifa-club-world-cup-in-2019-and-2020 |title=FIFA Council appoints Qatar as host of the FIFA Club World Cup in 2019 and 2020 |publisher=FIFA |date=3 June 2019 |access-date=3 June 2019 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190603160422/https://www.fifa.com/about-fifa/who-we-are/news/fifa-council-appoints-qatar-as-host-of-the-fifa-club-world-cup-in-2019-and-2020 |archive-date=3 June 2019}}
| class="wikitable"
|+From the July 2019 FIFA World Rankings{{cite web |url=https://www.fifa.com/fifa-world-ranking/ranking-table/men/rank/id12623/#CAF |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190813162621/https://www.fifa.com/fifa-world-ranking/ranking-table/men/rank/id12623/#CAF |archive-date=August 13, 2019 |title=FIFA Men's Ranking – July 2019 (CAF) |publisher=FIFA.com |date=25 July 2019 |url-status=live}} |
| style="width:50%"|Bye to the second round (ranked 1st to 26th) !style="width:50%"|Competing in first round |
|---|
| valign=top
|{{div col}}
{{div col end}} |{{ordered list|start=27 |{{fb|ZIM}} (112) |{{fb|SLE}} (114) |{{fb|MOZ}} (116) |{{fb|NAM}} (121) |{{fb|ANG}} (122) |{{fb|GNB}} (123) |{{fb|MWI}} (126) |{{fb|TOG}} (128) |{{fb|SDN}} (129) |{{fb|RWA}} (133) |{{fb|TAN}} (137) |{{fb|EQG}} (139) |{{fb|SWZ}} (139) |{{fb|LES}} (144) |{{fb|COM}} (146) |{{fb|BOT}} (147) |{{fb|BDI}} (148) |{{fb|ETH}} (150) |{{fb|LBR}} (152) |{{fb|MRI}} (157) |{{fb|GAM}} (161) |{{fb|SSD|2011}} (169) |{{fb|CHA}} (175) |{{fb|STP}} (185) |{{fb|SEY}} (192) |{{fb|DJI}} (195) |{{fb|SOM}} (202) |{{fb|ERI}} (202) }} |
Schedule
Below is the schedule of the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign, according to the FIFA International Match Calendar.{{cite web|url=https://resources.fifa.com/image/upload/international-match-calendar-2018-2024-x4858.pdf?cloudid=ntmrkopxx2iutr05pxbc|title=INTERNATIONAL MATCH CALENDAR 2018-2024|publisher=FIFA|access-date=28 July 2020|archive-date=16 March 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200316052119/https://resources.fifa.com/image/upload/international-match-calendar-2018-2024-x4858.pdf?cloudid=ntmrkopxx2iutr05pxbc|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|url=https://digitalhub.fifa.com/m/11f7fa1dc502361/original/Enclosure_Circular-1766_Updates-to-the-Men-s-International-Match-Calendar_EN.pdf|title=INTERNATIONAL MATCH CALENDAR 2020-2024|publisher=FIFA|access-date=18 August 2020|archive-date=3 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210103155126/https://img.fifa.com/image/upload/wt4ycd2y7awqfslrf8wi.pdf|url-status=live}} After the rescheduling of the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations final tournament from June/July to January/February, the dates of the matchdays 1–2 of the second round were also rescheduled.{{cite web|url=http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/6/52/359713/Sports/National-Teams/CAF-reschedules-dates-of-Nations-Cup-and-World-Cup.aspx|title=CAF reschedules dates of Nations Cup and World Cup qualifiers|publisher=Ahram Online|date=16 January 2020}} Because of the interruption of the competition due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the schedule of the second and third round was revised again and on 19 August 2020 CAF announced the new dates for the aforementioned rounds.{{cite web|url=https://www.cafonline.com/news-center/news/cameroon-2021-qualifiers-resume-november-qatar-2022-set-for-may-2021|title=Cameroon 2021 qualifiers resume November, Qatar 2022 set for May 2021|publisher=cafonline.com|date=19 August 2020}}
| class="wikitable"
! Stage ! Matchday ! Dates |
| rowspan="2" | First round
| First leg | 4–7 September 2019 |
| Second leg
| 8–10 September 2019 |
| rowspan="6" | Second round
| Matchday 1 | 1–3 September 2021{{efn|Matchday 1 originally scheduled for 23–31 March 2020, later for 5–13 October 2020.}} |
| Matchday 2
| 5–7 September 2021{{efn|Matchday 2 originally scheduled for 1–9 June 2020, later for 9–17 November 2020.}} |
| Matchday 3
| 6–9 October 2021{{efn|name=MD3-4|Matchday 3 and 4 originally scheduled for 22–30 March 2021.}} |
| Matchday 4
| 10–12 October 2021{{efn|name=MD3-4}} |
| Matchday 5
| 11–13 November 2021{{efn|Matchday 5 originally scheduled for 30 August – 7 September 2021.}} |
| Matchday 6
| 14–16 November 2021{{efn|Matchday 6 originally scheduled for 4–12 October 2021.}} |
| rowspan="2" | Third round
| First leg | 24–26 March 2022 |
| Second leg
| 27–29 March 2022 |
{{notelist}}
First round
{{main|2022 FIFA World Cup qualification – CAF first round}}
The draw for the first round was held on 29 July 2019 at 12:00 EST (UTC+2), at the CAF headquarters in Cairo, Egypt.{{Cite web |url=https://www.fifa.com/worldcup/news/204-member-associations-in-contention-for-fifa-world-cup-qatar-2022tm-berths |title=204 member associations in contention for FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 berths |website=FIFA.com |publisher=FIFA |language=en-GB |access-date=17 July 2019 |date=16 July 2019}}{{Cite web |url=https://see.news/caf-to-hold-draw-for-2022-fifa-world-cup-qualifiers-on-monday/|title=CAF to Hold Draw for 2022 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers on Monday |website=Sada ElBalad English |language=en-GB |access-date=22 July 2019 |date=22 July 2019}}
{{:2022 FIFA World Cup qualification – CAF first round}}
Second round
{{main|2022 FIFA World Cup qualification – CAF second round}}
The draw for the second round was held on 21 January 2020, 19:00 CAT (UTC+2), at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Cairo, Egypt.{{cite news |url=https://www.fifa.com/worldcup/news/fifa-world-cup-2022-qualifiers-draws-to-take-centre-stage-in-south-america-and-a |title=FIFA World Cup 2022 qualifiers: draws to take centre stage in South America and Africa |website=FIFA.com |publisher=Fédération Internationale de Football Association |date=11 December 2019 |access-date=11 December 2019}}
=Group A=
{{:2022 FIFA World Cup qualification – CAF second round|transcludesection=Group A|show_matches=y}}
=Group B=
{{:2022 FIFA World Cup qualification – CAF second round|transcludesection=Group B|show_matches=y}}
=Group C=
{{:2022 FIFA World Cup qualification – CAF second round|transcludesection=Group C|show_matches=y}}
=Group D=
{{:2022 FIFA World Cup qualification – CAF second round|transcludesection=Group D|show_matches=y}}
=Group E=
{{:2022 FIFA World Cup qualification – CAF second round|transcludesection=Group E|show_matches=y}}
=Group F=
{{:2022 FIFA World Cup qualification – CAF second round|transcludesection=Group F|show_matches=y}}
=Group G=
{{:2022 FIFA World Cup qualification – CAF second round|transcludesection=Group G|show_matches=y}}
=Group H=
{{:2022 FIFA World Cup qualification – CAF second round|transcludesection=Group H|show_matches=y}}
=Group I=
{{:2022 FIFA World Cup qualification – CAF second round|transcludesection=Group I|show_matches=y}}
=Group J=
{{:2022 FIFA World Cup qualification – CAF second round|transcludesection=Group J|show_matches=y}}
Third round
{{main|2022 FIFA World Cup qualification – CAF third round}} The ten group winners from the second round were drawn into five {{nobreak|home-and-away}} ties, with the teams seeded based on FIFA World Rankings. The draw was held on 22 January 2022 in Douala, Cameroon.{{Cite web|url=https://www.cafonline.com/total-africa-cup-of-nations/news/dates-for-fifa-world-cup-qatar-2022-african-qualifiers-and-totalenergies-africa-|title=Dates for FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 African Qualifiers and TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations 2023 draws announced|publisher=CAF|date=8 January 2022}} The lower ranked team played the first leg at home. The winners of each fixture qualified for the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
{{#lst:2022 FIFA World Cup qualification – CAF third round}}
Qualified teams
File:2022 World Cup CAF qualification.svg
The following five teams from CAF qualified for the final tournament.
| class="wikitable sortable" | |||
| Team
! Qualified as ! Qualified on ! data-sort-type="number"|Previous appearances in FIFA World Cup | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| {{fb|GHA}} | Third round winners | {{dts|29 March 2022|addkey=1}} | 3 (2006, 2010, 2014) |
| {{fb|SEN}} | Third round winners | {{dts|29 March 2022|addkey=2}} | 2 (2002, 2018) |
| {{fb|TUN}} | Third round winners | {{dts|29 March 2022|addkey=3}} | 5 (1978, 1998, 2002, 2006, 2018) |
| {{fb|MAR}} | Third round winners | {{dts|29 March 2022|addkey=4}} | 5 (1970, 1986, 1994, 1998, 2018) |
| {{fb|CMR}} | Third round winners | {{dts|29 March 2022|addkey=5}} | 7 (1982, 1990, 1994, 1998, 2002, 2010, 2014) |
{{Clear}}
Top goalscorers
{{#invoke:Goalscorers|main|2022 FIFA World Cup qualification (CAF)|minimum=4}}
Below are full goalscorer lists for each round:
{{Div col|colwidth=22em}}
{{div col end}}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{Official website|https://www.fifa.com/tournaments/mens/worldcup/qatar2022/preliminaries|Official FIFA World Cup website}}
- [https://www.fifa.com/tournaments/mens/worldcup/qatar2022/qualifiers/caf Qualifiers – Africa], FIFA.com
{{2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers}}
Category:FIFA World Cup qualification (CAF)
Category:2019 in African football