Match day 5 of the African Nations Cup qualifiers has been concluded, with 14 qualified teams for AFCON already confirmed for the showpiece in Ivory Coast (January 13 – February 11, 2024).
With Ivory Coast already booking their place automatically as the host nation, they still join other teams to partake in the qualifiers, alongside Zambia, Comoros, and Lesotho in Group H.
Teams like Kenya and Zimbabwe did not partake in this qualifying round after FIFA banned both countries from football activities. Due to this, Group C and Group K were reduced to 3 teams each.
Ivory Coast will now be joined by other big guns such as Morocco, Senegal, Egypt, Algeria, Nigeria, and the rest.
Ghana is yet to join their counterparts after a goalless draw against Madagascar, and now have 9 points, meaning that they need just one point from their final game to book their ticket.
The same goes for Cameroon who are 1 point adrift of Namibia with 4 points, 3 more than third-place Burundi in Group C.
Qualified Teams for AFCON
*Ivory Coast (Host Nation) – 10 Points in Group H
- Algeria – 15 Points
- Senegal – 13 Points
- Egypt – 12 Points
- Nigeria – 12 Points
- Zambia – 12 Points
- Equatorial Guinea – 12 Points
- Mali – 12 Points
- Burkina Faso – 10 Points
- Tunisia – 10 Points
- Guinea Bissau – 10 Points
- Cape Verde – 10 Points
- South Africa – 7 Points
- Mozambique – 7 Points
- Morocco – 6 Points
The last group stage qualifiers games will be held on the 8th of September, 2023, with 9 places still up for grabs to make up the 24-team tournament.
The teams will be split into six groups (A-F). 12 teams (1st and 2nd) will advance from their respective groups, while the 4 best losers will join them to make up the 16 teams for the knockout phase.
Senegal are the defending champions, after beating Egypt on penalties in Cameroon 2021.