# 2013 Africa Cup of Nations qualification

The 2013 Africa Cup of Nations qualification was the qualification process for the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations, the 29th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations tournament. South Africa automatically qualified as the host country.

## Qualified nations

| Country | Qualified by winning against | Qualification date | Previous appearances in tournament |
| South Africa | 00Hosts | 0028 September 2011 | 7 (1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008) |
| Ghana | 00Malawi | 0113 October 2012 | 18 (1963, 1965, 1968, 1970, 1978, 1980, 1982, 1984, 1992, 1994, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012) |
| Mali | 00Botswana | 0113 October 2012 | 7 (1972, 1994, 2002, 2004, 2008, 2010, 2012) |
| Zambia | 00Uganda | 0113 October 2012 | 15 (1974, 1978, 1982, 1986, 1990, 1992, 1994, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012) |
| Nigeria | 00Liberia | 0113 October 2012 | 16 (1963, 1976, 1978, 1980, 1982, 1984, 1988, 1990, 1992, 1994, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010) |
| Tunisia | 00Sierra Leone | 0113 October 2012 | 15 (1962, 1963, 1965, 1978, 1982, 1994, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012) |
| Ivory Coast | 00Senegal | 0113 October 2012 | 19 (1965, 1968, 1970, 1974, 1980, 1984, 1986, 1988, 1990, 1992, 1994, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012) |
| Morocco | 00Mozambique | 0113 October 2012 | 14 (1972, 1976, 1978, 1980, 1986, 1988, 1992, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2012) |
| Ethiopia | 00Sudan | 0214 October 2012 | 9 (1957, 1959, 1962, 1963, 1965, 1968, 1970, 1976, 1982) |
| Cape Verde | 00Cameroon | 0214 October 2012 | 0 (debut) |
| Angola | 00Zimbabwe | 0214 October 2012 | 6 (1996, 1998, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012) |
| Niger | 00Guinea | 0214 October 2012 | 1 (2012) |
| Togo | 00Gabon | 0214 October 2012 | 6 (1972, 1984, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2006) |
| DR Congo | 00Equatorial Guinea | 0214 October 2012 | 15 (1965, 1968, 1970, 1972, 1974, 1976, 1988, 1992, 1994, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006) |
| Burkina Faso | 00Central African Rep. | 0214 October 2012 | 8 (1978, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2010, 2012) |
| Algeria | 00Libya | 0214 October 2012 | 14 (1968, 1980, 1982, 1984, 1986, 1988, 1990, 1992, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2010) |
    $^†$ Bold indicates champion for that year
    $^†$ Italic indicates host

## Format

A total of 47 countries entered the competition, including South Africa, which automatically qualified.
The remaining 46 teams competed in the qualifiers. In each of the three rounds, teams were drawn into two-legged home-and-away knock-out ties. Aggregate goals were used to determine the winner. If the sides were level on aggregate after the second leg, the away goals rule was applied, and if still level, the tie proceeded directly to a penalty shootout instead of any extra time being played.
* Preliminary round: The lowest-ranked four teams started from the preliminary round.
* First round: The two winners of the preliminary round joined the other 26 teams which did not qualify for the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations.
* Second round: The 14 winners of the first round joined the 16 teams which qualified for the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations.
The 15 winners of the second round qualified for the finals.
The draw for the preliminary round and the first round was made on 28 October 2011 in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea. The draw for the second round was made on 5 July 2012 in Johannesburg, South Africa, after the first round was completed.
Below is the list of entrants:
| Bye to second round (2012 ACN qualifiers) | Bye to first round (2012 ACN non-qualifiers except lowest-ranked teams) | Bye to first round (2012 ACN non-qualifiers except lowest-ranked teams) | Competing in preliminary round (lowest-ranked teams) |
| Angola  Botswana  Burkina Faso  Ivory Coast  Equatorial Guinea  Gabon  Ghana  Guinea  Libya  Mali  Morocco  Niger  Senegal  Sudan  Tunisia  Zambia | Algeria  Benin  Burundi  Cameroon  Cape Verde  Central African Republic  Chad  Congo  DR Congo  Egypt  Ethiopia  Gambia  Guinea-Bissau | Kenya  Liberia  Madagascar  Malawi  Mozambique  Namibia  Nigeria  Rwanda  Sierra Leone  Tanzania  Togo  Uganda  Zimbabwe | Lesotho  São Tomé and Príncipe  Seychelles  Swaziland |

### Notes

* Togo were banned from the 2012 and 2013 Africa Cup of Nations tournaments by CAF after they withdrew from the 2010 tournament following a deadly attack on their team bus. Togo appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, with FIFA president Sepp Blatter stepping in to mediate. The ban was subsequently lifted with immediate effect on 14 May 2010, after a meeting of the CAF Executive Committee.
* Did not enter: Comoros, Djibouti, Eritrea, Mauritania, Mauritius and Somalia. South Sudan was not able to enter as qualifying was already in progress when they became a CAF member.

## Preliminary round

* Originally scheduled 6–8 and 20–22 January 2012. However, the São Tomé and Príncipe v Lesotho match was postponed from 8 January to 15 January at the request of the Lesotho Football Association due to the unavailability of flights to São Tomé via Libreville.
| Team 1 | Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
| Seychelles | w/o | Swaziland | — | — |
| São Tomé and Príncipe | 1–0 | Lesotho | 1–0 | 0–0 |

### Notes

* Note 1: Swaziland withdrew due to financial reasons. Seychelles advanced to the First round against Congo DR.
São Tomé and Príncipe won 1–0 on aggregate and advanced to the First round against Sierra Leone.

## First round

* Scheduled 29 February and 15–17 June 2012. The Central African Republic v Egypt match was postponed from 29 February to 30 June at the request of the Egyptian Football Association due to the Port Said Stadium disaster.
| Team 1 | Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
| Ethiopia | 1–1 (a) | Benin | 0–0 | 1–1 |
| Rwanda | 0–2 | Nigeria | 0–0 | 0–2 |
| Congo | 3–5 | Uganda | 3–1 | 0–4 |
| Burundi | 2–2 (a) | Zimbabwe | 2–1 | 0–1 |
| Gambia | 2–6 | Algeria | 1–2 | 1–4 |
| Kenya | 2–2 (a) | Togo | 2–1 | 0–1 |
| São Tomé and Príncipe | 4–5 | Sierra Leone | 2–1 | 2–4 |
| Guinea-Bissau | 0–2 | Cameroon | 0–1 | 0–1 |
| Chad | 3–4 | Malawi | 3–2 | 0–2 |
| Seychelles | 0–7 | DR Congo | 0–4 | 0–3 |
| Tanzania | 2–2 (6–7 p) | Mozambique | 1–1 | 1–1 |
| Egypt | 3–4 | Central African Republic | 2–3 | 1–1 |
| Madagascar | 1–7 | Cape Verde | 0–4 | 1–3 |
| Liberia | 1–0 | Namibia | 1–0 | 0–0 |

### Notes

* Note 2: Order of legs reversed after original draw.
1–1 on aggregate. Ethiopia won on the away goals rule and advanced to the Second round.
Nigeria won 2–0 on aggregate and advanced to the Second round.
Uganda won 5–3 on aggregate and advanced to the Second round.
2–2 on aggregate. Zimbabwe won on the away goals rule and advanced to the Second round.
Algeria won 6–2 on aggregate and advanced to the Second round.
2–2 on aggregate. Togo won on the away goals rule and advanced to the Second round.
Sierra Leone won 5–4 on aggregate and advanced to the Second round.
Cameroon won 2–0 on aggregate and advanced to the Second round.
Malawi won 4–3 on aggregate and advanced to the Second round.
Congo DR won 7–0 on aggregate and advanced to the Second round.
2–2 on aggregate. Mozambique won the penalty shootout and advanced to the Second round.
Central African Republic won 4–3 on aggregate and advanced to the Second round.
Cape Verde won 7–1 on aggregate and advanced to the Second round.
Liberia won 1–0 on aggregate and advanced to the Second round.

## Second round
### Seeding

The 30 teams which qualified for the second round were ranked based on their performances during the last three Africa Cup of Nations, i.e. the 2008, 2010, and 2012 editions. For each of the last three African Cup of Nations final tournaments, the following system of points is adopted for the qualified countries:
| Classification | Points awarded |
| Winner | 7 |
| Runner-up | 5 |
| Losing semi-finalists | 3 |
| Losing quarter-finalists | 2 |
| Eliminated in 1st round | 1 |
Moreover, a weighted coefficient on points was given to each of the last three editions of the Africa Cup of Nations as follows:
* 2012 edition: points to be multiplied by 3
* 2010 edition: points to be multiplied by 2
* 2008 edition: points to be multiplied by 1
If two countries are equal in the number of points in the above classification the number of points that they have accumulated throughout all their matches played in the last 3 final tournaments of the CAN determined their ranking (on the basis of 3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw and 0 for a match lost).
The teams were divided into two pots based on the ranking. Each tie contained one team from each pot. The order of legs for each tie was determined by draw.
| Pot 1 | Pot 2 |
| Zambia (26 pts) Ghana (22 pts) Ivory Coast (22 pts) Mali (12 pts) Tunisia (10 pts) Cameroon (9 pts) Angola (9 pts) Gabon (8 pts) Nigeria (8 pts) Sudan (7 pts) Equatorial Guinea (6 pts) Algeria (6 pts) Guinea (5 pts) Burkina Faso (5 pts) Morocco (4 pts) | Senegal (4 pts) Libya (3 pts) Niger (3 pts) Botswana (3 pts) Malawi (2 pts) Mozambique (2 pts) Togo (2 pts) Cape Verde (0 pts) Central African Republic (0 pts) DR Congo (0 pts) Ethiopia (0 pts) Liberia (0 pts) Sierra Leone (0 pts) Uganda (0 pts) Zimbabwe (0 pts) |

### Matches

* Scheduled 7–9 September and 12–14 October 2012.
| Team 1 | Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
| Mali | 7–1 | Botswana | 3–0 | 4–1 |
| Zimbabwe | 3–3 (a) | Angola | 3–1 | 0–2 |
| Ghana | 3–0 | Malawi | 2–0 | 1–0 |
| Liberia | 3–8 | Nigeria | 2–2 | 1–6 |
| Zambia | 1–1 (9–8 p) | Uganda | 1–0 | 0–1 |
| Cape Verde | 3–2 | Cameroon | 2–0 | 1–2 |
| Mozambique | 2–4 | Morocco | 2–0 | 0–4 |
| Sierra Leone | 2–2 (a) | Tunisia | 2–2 | 0–0 |
| Guinea | 1–2 | Niger | 1–0 | 0–2 |
| Sudan | 5–5 (a) | Ethiopia | 5–3 | 0–2 |
| Libya | 0–3 | Algeria | 0–1 | 0–2 |
| Ivory Coast | 6–2 | Senegal | 4–2 | 2–0 |
| DR Congo | 5–2 | Equatorial Guinea | 4–0 | 1–2 |
| Gabon | 2–3 | Togo | 1–1 | 1–2 |
| Central African Republic | 2–3 | Burkina Faso | 1–0 | 1–3 |

#### Notes

* Note 3: Libya v Algeria played in neutral venue of Morocco due to the political situation in Libya.
* Note 4: Senegal v Ivory Coast was abandoned with 15 minutes to go, after the crowd started to riot. The result was confirmed as 2–0 in favor of Ivory Coast by the CAF.
Mali won 7–1 on aggregate and qualified for the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations.
3–3 on aggregate. Angola won on the away goals rule and qualified for the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations.
Ghana won 3–0 on aggregate and qualified for the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations.
Nigeria won 8–3 on aggregate and qualified for the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations.
1–1 on aggregate. Zambia won the penalty shootout and qualified for the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations.
Cape Verde won 3–2 on aggregate and qualified for the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations.
Morocco won 4–2 on aggregate and qualified for the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations.
2–2 on aggregate. Tunisia won on the away goals rule and qualified for the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations.
Niger won 2–1 on aggregate and qualified for the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations.
5–5 on aggregate. Ethiopia won on the away goals rule and qualified for the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations.
Algeria won 3–0 on aggregate and qualified for the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations.
Ivory Coast won 6–2 on aggregate and qualified for the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations.
Congo DR won 5–2 on aggregate and qualified for the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations.
Togo won 3–2 on aggregate and qualified for the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations.
Burkina Faso won 3–2 on aggregate and qualified for the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations.

## Goalscorers
### 3 goals

* Islam Slimani
* Hillal Soudani
* Ryan Mendes
* Didier Drogba
* Dieumerci Mbokani
* Adane Girma
* Ikechukwu Uche
* Jair Nunes

### 2 goals

* Manucho
* Alain Traoré
* Djaniny
* David Manga
* Hilaire Momi
* Leger Djime
* Dioko Kaluyituka
* Déo Kanda
* Atusaye Nyondo
* Cheick Diabaté
* Modibo Maïga
* Ahmed Musa
* Victor Moses
* Teteh Bangura
* Kei Kamara
* Muhannad Tahir
* Emmanuel Adebayor
* Geoffrey Massa
* Knowledge Musona

### 1 goal

* Sofiane Feghouli
* Foued Kadir
* Antar Yahia
* Djalma Campos
* Mickaël Poté
* Moumouni Dagano
* Laudy Mavugo
* Valery Nahayo
* Mmusa Ohilwe
* Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting
* Achille Emaná
* Benjamin Moukandjo
* Fabrice Olinga
* Dady
* Nhuck
* Ricardo
* Fernando Varela
* Toni Varela
* Foxi Kéthévoama
* Vianney Mabidé
* David Manga
* Mahamat Labbo
* Jérémie Basilua
* Mpeko Issama
* Trésor Mputu
* Youssouf Mulumbu
* Matt Moussilou
* Fabrice N'Guessi
* Gervinho
* Max Gradel
* Salomon Kalou
* Emad Moteab
* Mohamed Salah
* Mohamed Zidan
* Judson
* Ricardinho
* Getaneh Kebede
* Saladin Said
* Seyoum Tesfaye
* Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang
* Daniel Cousin
* Momodou Ceesay
* Saihou Gassama
* Afriyie Acquah
* Anthony Annan
* Christian Atsu
* Mohamed Yattara
* James Situma
* Allan Wanga
* Sekou Oliseh
* Omega Roberts
* Dioh Williams
* Patrick Wleh
* Paulin Voavy
* John Banda
* Joseph Kamwendo
* Mahamadou N'Diaye
* Mamadou Samassa
* Mohamed Kalilou Traoré
* Clésio Baúque
* Domingues
* Miro
* Jerry Sitoe
* Nordin Amrabat
* Abdelaziz Barrada
* Youssef El-Arabi
* Houssine Kharja
* Mohamed Chikoto
* Issoufou Boubacar Garba
* Efe Ambrose
* Nosa Igiebor
* John Obi Mikel
* José
* Lasset
* Papiss Cissé
* Dame N'Doye
* Alhaji Kamara
* Alhassan Kamara
* Medo Kamara
* Sheriff Suma
* Mohamed Ahmed Bashir
* Mudathir El Tahir
* Mosaab Omer
* Mwinyi Kazimoto
* Aggrey Morris
* Razak Boukari
* Serge Gakpé
* Dové Wome
* Fateh Gharbi
* Youssef Msakni
* Andrew Mwesigwa
* Emmanuel Okwi
* Mike Sserumaga
* Godfrey Walusimbi
* Christopher Katongo
* Khama Billiat
* Archieford Gutu

### 1 own goal

* Mateus Galiano da Costa (playing against Zimbabwe)
* Ronan Carolino Falcão (playing against DR Congo)