2018 Africa Women Cup of Nations qualification


The 2018 Africa Women Cup of Nations qualification was a women's football competition which decided the participating teams of the 2018 Africa Women Cup of Nations.
A total of eight teams qualified to play in the final tournament, including Ghana who qualified automatically as hosts.

Teams

Apart from Ghana, the remaining 53 members of CAF were eligible to enter the qualifying competition, and a total of 24 national teams were in the qualifying draw, which was announced in early October 2017.
Equatorial Guinea were initially banned from the 2018 Africa Women Cup of Nations, but were reinstated after the ban was lifted in July 2017 at an emergency CAF committee meeting, and were included in the qualifying draw. However, FIFA banned them from qualifying for the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup, meaning they could not qualify for the World Cup regardless of their performance in the Africa Women Cup of Nations.
FIFA Women's World Rankings in September 2017 in brackets.
Final tournament hostsBye to second round
First round entrants

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    • ;Notes
    ;Did not enter
    Qualification ties are played on a home-and-away two-legged basis. If the aggregate score is tied after the second leg, the away goals rule is applied, and if still tied, the penalty shoot-out is used to determine the winner.

    Schedule

    The schedule of the qualifying rounds is as follows.
    The first round was originally scheduled for 26 February – 6 March 2018, and the second round for 2–10 April 2018, but the dates were moved due to a clash with the CAF Women's Symposium in early March.

    Bracket

    The seven winners of the second round qualified for the final tournament.

    First round

    Overview

    Matches

    Algeria won 3–2 on aggregate.
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    Ethiopia won 15–0 on aggregate.
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    1–1 on aggregate. Ivory Coast won on away goals.
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    Mali advanced on walkover after Sierra Leone withdrew.
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    3–3 on aggregate. Gambia won 5–3 on penalties.
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    Congo won 3–1 on aggregate.
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    Kenya won 1–0 on aggregate.
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    Lesotho won 3–1 on aggregate.
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    4–4 on aggregate. Zambia won on away goals.
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    Zimbabwe won 4–0 on aggregate.

    Second round

    Winners qualified for 2018 Africa Women Cup of Nations.

    Overview

    Matches

    Algeria won 6–3 on aggregate.
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    2–2 on aggregate. Mali won on away goals.
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    Nigeria won 7–0 on aggregate.
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    Cameroon won 10–0 on aggregate.
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    Equatorial Guinea won 3–2 on aggregate. On 17 October 2018, Kenya were awarded the tie after Equatorial Guinea were disqualified for fielding an ineligible player. However, on 7 November 2018, the decision was overturned on appeal.
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    South Africa won 7–0 on aggregate.
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    2–2 on aggregate. Zambia won on away goals.

    Qualified teams

    The following eight teams qualified for the final tournament.
    TeamQualified onPrevious appearances in Africa Women Cup of Nations1
    28 9 201611
    4
    6
    11 6 201812
    12
    4
    11
    2

    Goalscorers