# 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification (CAF)

The African section of the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification acted as qualifiers for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, held in Russia, for national teams which were members of the Confederation of African Football (CAF). A total of five slots in the final tournament were available for CAF teams.
The CAF Executive Committee approved the format for the qualifiers of the 2018 FIFA World Cup on 14 January 2015, with three preliminary rounds before a final group stage featuring 20 teams. The number of preliminary rounds was reduced to two, based on information provided by FIFA in early July 2015.

## Format

The qualification structure was as follows:
* First round: 26 teams, ranked 28–53, played home-and-away over two legs. The 13 winners advanced to the second round.
* Second round: 40 teams, ranked 1–27 and 13 first round winners, played home-and-away over two legs. The 20 winners advanced to the third round.
* Third round: 20 teams which had advanced from the second round were divided into five groups of four teams to play home-and-away round-robin matches. The winners of each group qualified for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

## Entrants

All 54 FIFA-affiliated football associations from CAF entered qualification. However, Zimbabwe were expelled from the competition on 12 March 2015 due to their failure to pay former coach José Claudinei a severance fee, a decision that the Zimbabwe Football Association unsuccessfully appealed.
The July 2015 FIFA Rankings were used to seed the teams for the first two rounds, both of which were drawn in Russia on 25 July 2015. (World rankings shown in brackets)
From the July 2015 FIFA World Rankings :
| Bye to second round (ranked 1st to 27th) | Competing in first round (ranked 28th to 54th) |
| Algeria (19)  Ivory Coast (21)  Ghana (25)  Tunisia (32)  Senegal (39)  Cameroon (42)  Congo (47)  Cape Verde (52)  Egypt (55)  Nigeria (57)  Guinea (58)  DR Congo (60)  Mali (61)  Equatorial Guinea (63)  Gabon (65)  South Africa (70)  Zambia (71)  Burkina Faso (72)  Uganda (73)  Rwanda (78)  Togo (83)  Morocco (84)  Sudan (90)  Angola (92)  Mozambique (95)  Benin (96)  Libya (96) | Niger (96) Ethiopia (101) Malawi (108) Sierra Leone (111) Zimbabwe (112) Namibia (114) Kenya (116) Botswana (120) Madagascar (122) Mauritania (128) Burundi (131) Lesotho (131) Guinea-Bissau (133) Swaziland (138) Tanzania (139) Gambia (143) Liberia (161) Central African Republic (170) Chad (173) Mauritius (180) Seychelles (186) Comoros (187) São Tomé and Príncipe (189) South Sudan (195) Eritrea (204) Somalia (205) Djibouti (207) |
Note: Niger had to enter the first round as they had fewer FIFA ranking points (345.31) than Benin (345.46) and Libya (345.35). In the FIFA World Rankings, teams share the same ranking if their ranking points round to the same whole number.

## Schedule

The schedule of the competition was as follows.
| Round | Matchday | Date |
| First round | First leg | 5–13 October 2015 |
| First round | Second leg | 5–13 October 2015 |
| Second round | First leg | 9–17 November 2015 |
| Second round | Second leg | 9–17 November 2015 |
| Round | Matchday | Date |
| Third round | Matchday 1 | 3–11 October 2016 |
| Third round | Matchday 2 | 7–15 November 2016 |
| Third round | Matchday 3 | 28 August – 5 September 2017 |
| Third round | Matchday 4 | 28 August – 5 September 2017 |
| Third round | Matchday 5 | 2–10 October 2017 |
| Third round | Matchday 6 | 6–14 November 2017 |

## First round

The draw for the first round was held as part of the 2018 FIFA World Cup Preliminary Draw on 25 July 2015, starting 18:00 MSK (UTC+3), at the Konstantinovsky Palace in Strelna, Saint Petersburg, Russia.
| Team 1 | Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
| Somalia | 0–6 | Niger | 0–2 | 0–4 |
| South Sudan | 1–5 | Mauritania | 1–1 | 0–4 |
| Gambia | 2–3 | Namibia | 1–1 | 1–2 |
| São Tomé and Príncipe | 1–3 | Ethiopia | 1–0 | 0–3 |
| Chad | 2–2 (a) | Sierra Leone | 1–0 | 1–2 |
| Comoros | 1–1 (a) | Lesotho | 0–0 | 1–1 |
| Djibouti | 1–8 | Swaziland | 0–6 | 1–2 |
| Eritrea | 1–5 | Botswana | 0–2 | 1–3 |
| Seychelles | 0–3 | Burundi | 0–1 | 0–2 |
| Liberia | 4–2 | Guinea-Bissau | 1–1 | 3–1 |
| Central African Republic | 2–5 | Madagascar | 0–3 | 2–2 |
| Mauritius | 2–5 | Kenya | 2–5 | 0–0 |
| Tanzania | 2–1 | Malawi | 2–0 | 0–1 |

## Second round

The draw for the second round was held as part of the 2018 FIFA World Cup Preliminary Draw on 25 July 2015, starting 18:00 MSK (UTC+3), at the Konstantinovsky Palace in Strelna, Saint Petersburg, Russia.
| Team 1 | Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
| Niger | 0–3 | Cameroon | 0–3 | 0–0 |
| Mauritania | 2–4 | Tunisia | 1–2 | 1–2 |
| Namibia | 0–3 | Guinea | 0–1 | 0–2 |
| Ethiopia | 4–6 | Congo | 3–4 | 1–2 |
| Chad | 1–4 | Egypt | 1–0 | 0–4 |
| Comoros | 0–2 | Ghana | 0–0 | 0–2 |
| Swaziland | 0–2 | Nigeria | 1–0 | 0–2 |
| Botswana | 2–3 | Mali | 2–1 | 0–2 |
| Burundi | 2–6 | DR Congo | 2–3 | 0–3 |
| Liberia | 0–4 | Ivory Coast | 0–1 | 0–3 |
| Madagascar | 2–5 | Senegal | 2–2 | 0–3 |
| Kenya | 1–2 | Cape Verde | 1–0 | 0–2 |
| Tanzania | 2–9 | Algeria | 2–2 | 0–7 |
| Sudan | 0–3 | Zambia | 0–1 | 0–2 |
| Libya | 4–1 | Rwanda | 1–0 | 3–1 |
| Morocco | 2–1 | Equatorial Guinea | 2–0 | 0–1 |
| Mozambique | 1–1 (3–4 p) | Gabon | 1–0 | 0–1 (a.e.t.) |
| Benin | 2–3 | Burkina Faso | 2–1 | 0–2 |
| Togo | 0–4 | Uganda | 0–1 | 0–3 |
| Angola | 1–4 | South Africa | 1–3 | 0–1 |

## Third round

The draw for the third round was held on 24 June 2016, 17:00 EET (UTC+2), at the CAF headquarters in Cairo, Egypt.

### Groups

* 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification tiebreakers
* In league format, the ranking of teams in each group was based on the following criteria (regulations Articles 20.6 and 20.7):
* Points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss)
* Overall goal difference
* Overall goals scored
* Points in matches between tied teams
* Goal difference in matches between tied teams
* Goals scored in matches between tied teams
* Away goals scored in matches between tied teams (if the tie was only between two teams in home-and-away league format)
* Fair play points
* first yellow card: minus 1 point
* indirect red card (second yellow card): minus 3 points
* direct red card: minus 4 points
* yellow card and direct red card: minus 5 points
* Drawing of lots by the FIFA Organising Committee

#### Group A

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | | | | |
| 1 | Tunisia | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 11 | 4 | +7 | 14 | Qualification to 2018 FIFA World Cup | — | 2–1 | 0–0 | 2–0 |
| 2 | DR Congo | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 14 | 7 | +7 | 13 | | 2–2 | — | 4–0 | 3–1 |
| 3 | Libya | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 10 | −6 | 4 | | 0–1 | 1–2 | — | 1–0 |
| 4 | Guinea | 6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 6 | 14 | −8 | 3 | | 1–4 | 1–2 | 3–2 | — |

#### Group B

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | | | | |
| 1 | Nigeria | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 11 | 6 | +5 | 13 | Qualification to 2018 FIFA World Cup | — | 1–0 | 4–0 | 3–1 |
| 2 | Zambia | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 8 | 7 | +1 | 8 | | 1–2 | — | 2–2 | 3–1 |
| 3 | Cameroon | 6 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 7 | 9 | −2 | 7 | | 1–1 | 1–1 | — | 2–0 |
| 4 | Algeria | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 6 | 10 | −4 | 4 | | 3–0 | 0–1 | 1–1 | — |
* ↑ FIFA awarded Algeria a 3–0 win as a result of Nigeria fielding the ineligible player Shehu Abdullahi, after the match had ended in a 1–1 draw. Abdullahi failed to serve a one-game ban after receiving two yellow cards in the qualifying competition.

#### Group C

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | | | | |
| 1 | Morocco | 6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 11 | 0 | +11 | 12 | Qualification to 2018 FIFA World Cup | — | 0–0 | 3–0 | 6–0 |
| 2 | Ivory Coast | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 5 | +2 | 8 | | 0–2 | — | 1–2 | 3–1 |
| 3 | Gabon | 6 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 7 | −5 | 6 | | 0–0 | 0–3 | — | 0–0 |
| 4 | Mali | 6 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 9 | −8 | 4 | | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | — |

#### Group D

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | | | | |
| 1 | Senegal | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 10 | 3 | +7 | 14 | Qualification to 2018 FIFA World Cup | — | 0–0 | 2–0 | 2–1 |
| 2 | Burkina Faso | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 10 | 6 | +4 | 9 | | 2–2 | — | 4–0 | 1–1 |
| 3 | Cape Verde | 6 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 12 | −8 | 6 | | 0–2 | 0–2 | — | 2–1 |
| 4 | South Africa | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 7 | 10 | −3 | 4 | | 0–2 | 3–1 | 1–2 | — |
* ↑ FIFA ordered a replay of the original South Africa v Senegal match after the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) upheld the lifetime ban of match referee Joseph Lamptey. Originally South Africa had defeated Senegal 2–1.

#### Group E

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | | | | |
| 1 | Egypt | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 4 | +4 | 13 | Qualification to 2018 FIFA World Cup | — | 1–0 | 2–0 | 2–1 |
| 2 | Uganda | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 2 | +1 | 9 | | 1–0 | — | 0–0 | 1–0 |
| 3 | Ghana | 6 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 7 | 5 | +2 | 7 | | 1–1 | 0–0 | — | 1–1 |
| 4 | Congo | 6 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 12 | −7 | 2 | | 1–2 | 1–1 | 1–5 | — |

## Qualified teams

The following five teams qualified for the final tournament.
| Team | Qualified as | Qualified on | Previous appearances in FIFA World Cup |
| Tunisia | Group A winners | 11 November 2017 | 4 (1978, 1998, 2002, 2006) |
| Nigeria | Group B winners | 7 October 2017 | 5 (1994, 1998, 2002, 2010, 2014) |
| Morocco | Group C winners | 11 November 2017 | 4 (1970, 1986, 1994, 1998) |
| Senegal | Group D winners | 10 November 2017 | 1 (2002) |
| Egypt | Group E winners | 8 October 2017 | 2 (1934, 1990) |

## Top goalscorers

There were 309 goals scored in 127 matches, for an average of 2.43 goals per match.
5 goals
* Préjuce Nakoulma
* Mohamed Salah
4 goals
* Islam Slimani
* Fiston Abdul Razak
* Firmin Ndombe Mubele
* William Jebor
* Khalid Boutaïb
* Moussa Maâzou
* Farouk Miya
* Naby Keïta
Below are full goalscorer lists for each round:
* First round
* Second round
* Third round

## Fan behaviour

After Morocco qualified for the tournament with a 2–0 victory over Ivory Coast, the celebrations by the Moroccan community in Brussels turned into a riot with cars burnt, shops looted by some 300 rioters and 20 police officers injured. Firefighters sent to put out the fires were also attacked by the rioters.