AFCON 2015 qualifiers: Official format and seeding

CAF have announced the format for the 2015 AFCON qualifiers last week. See the press release (PDF file).

As for the qualifiers' draw, it shall be held Sunday, April 27th 2014 in Cairo, Egypt. The qualifiers shall be played in the format of several preliminary rounds, as well as a group phase with seven groups consisting of four teams each. The two top teams of each group will then directly qualify for the Orange AFCON 2015, along with the 3rd place winners of the seven groups.

The group phase shall be held from September 5th to November 19th 2014. The final phase's draw shall be conducted on November 26th 2014 in Morocco; the city remains to be decided.

Out of the 51 countries engaged in these qualifiers, the top 21 teams listed in the CAF Ranking shall automatically qualify for the group phase. The seven others partaking in the group phase shall be determined following the conclusion of the preliminary rounds, held from May to August 2014.

CAF have change the ranking criteria. Previously only the performances in the three previous AFCON tournaments were taken into account. Now they've added performances in the last two AFCON qualifying campaigns and the 2014 World Cup qualifiers.

AFCON performance points:

8 - Winner
6 - Runner-up
4 - Semi-finalist
3 - Quarter finalist
2 - 3rd in group
1 - 4th in group

The 2013 edition’s points are multiplied by 3 and the 2012 by 2 and the 2010 Edition by 1.

2012 qualifiers performance points:

4 - Winner
3 - Runner-uo
2 - 3rd in group
1 - 4th in group

2013 qualifiers performance points:

3 - Qualified
2 - Eliminated in the 2nd round
1 - Eliminated in the 1st round

The 2012 edition points are divided by 2.

2014 FIFA World Cup qualifiers performance points:

7 - qualified
5 - playoff
3 - 2nd in group
2 - 3rd in group
1 - 4th in group

1	Nigeria	24	3		1.5	4	7	39.5
2	Ghana	12	3	8	2	6	7	38
3	Côte d'Ivoire	9	3	12	2	3	7	36
4	Zambia	6	3	16	2	3	3	33
5	Burkina Faso	18	3	2	2	2	5	32
6	Mali	12	3	8	2	2	3	30
7	Tunisia	6	3	6	1.5	1	5	22.5
8	Algeria	3	3		1	4	7	18
	Morocco	6	3	4	2		3	18
9	Angola	3	3	4	2	3	2	17
10	Cape Verde Islands	9	3		1.5		3	16.5
11	Togo	9	3		0.5	1	1	14.5
12	Egypt		1		0.5	8	5	14.5
13	South Africa	9	0		1.5		3	13.5
14	Cameroon		2		1.5	3	7	13.5
15	Congo DR	6	3		1		2	12
16	Ethiopia	3	3		1		5	12
17	Gabon		2	6		2	2	12
18	Niger	3	3	2	2		1	11
19	Guinea		2	4	2		3	11
20	Senegal		2	2	2		5	11
21	Sudan		2	6	1.5		1	10.5
22	Libya		2	4	1.5		3	10.5
23	Equatorial Guinea		2	6			1	9
24	Botswana		2	2	2		2	8
25	Malawi		2		1	1	3	7
26	Uganda		2		1.5		3	6.5
27	Mozambique		2		1	1	2	6
28	Benin		1		0.5	2	2	5.5
29	Sierra Leone		2		1		2	5
30	Congo		1		1		3	5
31	Central African Republic		2		1.5		1	4.5
32	Zimbabwe		2		1		1	4
33	Kenya		1		1		2	4
34	Liberia		2		0.5		1	3.5
35	Gambia		1		1.5		1	3.5
35	Rwanda		1		1.5		1	3.5
37	Tanzania		1		0.5		2	3.5
38	Namibia		1		1		1	3
39	Burundi		1		1			2
40	Lesotho						2	2
41	Guinea-Bissau		1		0.5			1.5
41	Madagascar		1		0.5			1.5
43	Sao Tome e Principe		1					1
43	Chad		1					1
43	Seychelles		1					1
46	Comoros				0.5			0.5
46	Mauritius				0.5			0.5
46	Swaziland				0.5			0.5
49	Eritrea							0
49	Mauritania							0
51	South Sudan							0

Thus the pots for the qualifiers draw will look like this:

Pot 1: Nigeria, Ghana, Côte d'Ivoire, Zambia, Burkina Faso, Mali, Tunisia
Pot 2: Algeria, Angola, Cape Verde Islands, Togo, Egypt, South Africa, Cameroon
Pot 3: Congo DR, Ethiopia, Gabon, Niger, Guinea, Senegal, Sudan
Pot 4: 7 teams from the preliminary rounds

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Christian, husband, father x 3, programmer, Romanian. Started the blog in March 2007. Quit in April 2018. You can find me on LinkedIn.