2011 African Nations Championship qualification
The qualification phase for the 2011 African Championship of Nations began in March 2010. These games did not count towards the FIFA rankings.
The inaugural edition of the competition featured eight teams, while this edition featured sixteen.
Qualification Zones
Qualification was divided into the CAF Zoning system. Each Zone had either two or three teams that qualified for the final tournament.| Zone | Number of participating teams | Number of qualifying teams | Number of teams not entered |
| North Zone | 4 | 2 | 1 |
| Zone West A | 5 | 2 | 4 |
| Zone West B | 6 | 3 | 1 |
| Central Zone | 5 | 3 | 3 |
| Central-East Zone | 10 | 3 | 0 |
| Southern Zone | 11 | 3 | 3 |
| Total | 41 | 16 | 12 |
Central-East Zone
Second round
The Tanzania vs Rwanda match was pushed forward to May 1 due to Rwanda’s hosting of the CECAFA Kagame Cup from 15–29 May.Qualified
- - Host
- - North Zone
- - North Zone
- - Zone West A
- - Zone West A
- - Zone West B
- - Zone West B
- - Zone West B
- - Central Zone
- - Central Zone
- - Central Zone
- - Central-East Zone
- - Central-East Zone
- - Southern Zone
- South Africa - Southern Zone
- - Southern Zone