AFCON 2017 QUALIFIERS: Starting June 8-16 2015
WORLD CUP 2018 QUALIFIERS: Starting October 2015
Confederation of African Football Associations (CAF) CAF has approved the qualifying format for the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations, and will name the host country for the event on April 8.
The qualifiers for the 31st edition of the competition will start in June, and for the first time the host nation will participate in the process but are not at risk of elimination.
CAF’s official statement read:
The qualifiers for the 31st edition of the Africa Cup of Nations will begin in June 2015 using the two dates fixed by FIFA, 08-16 June.
For the first time, the host country will participate in the qualifying stages; though the matches concerned will not be computed for points, they shall count as friendlies.
Fifty-two teams (52) will be engaged. They will be divided into 13 groups of 4 teams each. The first from each group shall qualify for the final stage, as well as the best two runners-up, exclusive of the group of the host country, which only one team will qualify.
Also, if due to the withdrawal of one team and a group happens to be left with just three teams, this group will not be considered when determining the best second team.
The CAF executive committee has also approved the qualifying format for the 2018 World Cup, taking place in Russia.
The qualifiers begin in October 2015.
The competing teams will have to go through three preliminary rounds in order to bring the number of teams down to 20 so as to be able to constitute five groups of four teams, where the first from each group will qualifier for the World Cup.
The preliminaries of the FIFA World Cup shall begin during the two FIFA dates in October 2015, given that the draws shall take place on 25 July 2015 at Saint-Petersburg in Russia.’
MAIN PHOTO: Uganda Cranes players passionately singing the national anthem prior to the AFCON 2015 Qualification match against Ghana at the Nelson Mandela Stadium, Namboole in November 2014. Cranes won the game 1-0, scored by defender Savio Kabugo.
PHOTO CREDITS: FUFA Communications Department
