2012 Africa Cup of Nations qualification


This page details the process of the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations qualification phase. Forty-six African nations, including hosts Gabon and Equatorial Guinea, entered the competition. Gabon and Equatorial Guinea automatically qualified as host countries. The other 44 nations were drawn into eleven groups, each containing 4 teams. Togo was later added to Group K after its reinstatement.
In each group, teams played each other home and away in a round-robin format. The top team in each group qualified, as did the runner-up of Group K and the two best runners-up from the other groups.

Qualified teams

The teams qualified are:
CountryQualified asDate qualification was securedPrevious appearances in tournament
00Co-hosts0329 July 20074
00Co-hosts0329 July 20070
01Group K Winner0026 March 20110
01Group H Winner005 June 201118
01Group F Winner003 September 20117
01Group E Winner03 September 201111
01Group I Winner008 October 201117
01Group B Winner008 October 201110
01Group C Winner008 October 201114
01Top Two Runner-up008 October 2011[|2]
01Group J Winner008 October 20115
01Group K Runner-up008 October 201114
01Group A Winner008 October 20116
01Group G Winner008 October 20110
01Group D Winner009 October 201113
01Top Two Runner-up009 October 20117

Draw

The Confederation of African Football conducted the draw for the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying campaign on 20 February 2010. The draw was held in Lubumbashi, Congo DR where the CAF Super Cup was held on 21 February 2010. The 11 teams in Pot [|1] were selected based on their ranking after the 27th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations in Angola. The rest were ranked based on their position at the latest FIFA Ranking.
Pot 1Pot 2Pot 3Pot 4













;Notes
  • Togo was initially banned from competing in the tournament and was thus not involved in the draw, but they were later reinstated and added to Group K .
  • Did not enter:,,,,,.

Togolese Ban

Togo were banned from the 2012 and 2013 Africa Cup of Nations tournaments by CAF after they withdrew from the 2010 tournament following a deadly attack on their team bus.
Togo appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, with FIFA president Sepp Blatter stepping in to mediate. The ban was subsequently lifted with immediate effect on 14 May 2010, after a meeting of the CAF Executive Committee. Togo were readmitted to the 2012 and 2013 tournaments, and added to the qualification stage.

Tie-breaking rules

The order of tie-breakers used when two or more team have the equal number of points is:
  1. Number of points obtained in games between the teams concerned;
  2. Goal difference in games between the teams concerned;
  3. Goals scored in games between the teams concerned;
  4. Away goals scored in games between the teams concerned;
  5. Goal difference in all games;
  6. Goals scored in all games;
  7. Drawing of lots.

Qualifying group stage

Group A


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Group B


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Group C


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;Notes

Group D


  • Note: The ranking of the Central African Republic and Algeria by their head-to-head records is shown [|below]. As they could not be separated on these criteria, ranking was based on overall goal difference.
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Group E


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Group F


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;Notes
  • The Namibia Football Association made a formal complaint that Burkina Faso fielded an ineligible player, Yaoundé-born Herve Xavier Zengue, in the games on 26 March and 4 June. Burkina Faso coach Paulo Duarte says that the player is eligible as he has a Burkinabé wife. CAF opened an investigation, but later dismissed the protest saying it was filed long after the stipulated period for such appeals.
  • Namibia indicated that they would appeal the decision to CAF and, if necessary, to the Court of Arbitration for Sport on two different points. Firstly that an appeal had been filed with the match referee prior to their game with Burkina Faso but had not been forwarded to CAF and secondly that such an appeal was in any case not required due to article 36.12 of the competition regulations which stated that "non-qualified or a suspended player to take part in group matches shall lose the match by penalty, even in the absence of protests/reservations".
  • On 10 January 2012, their appeal was dismissed by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Group G


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;Notes
  • The South African Football Association lodged a complaint against their elimination, claiming that goal difference should be used to decide on the group winner, as it is "the traditional way of determining a log standing". The South African team had believed they had qualified when the final whistle was blown following their 0–0 draw with Sierra Leone. The SAFA later withdrew its appeal.

Group H


  • Note: The ranking of Burundi and Benin by their head-to-head records is shown below. As they could not be separated on these criteria, ranking was based on overall goal difference.
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;Notes

Group I


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Group J


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Group K


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Ranking of group runners-up

The two best runners-up from Groups A–J qualify for the 2012 ACN. After the withdrawal of Mauritania from Group F, the following rule applies:
The two best runners-up are determined by the following parameters in this order:
  1. Highest number of points
  2. Goal difference
  3. Highest number of goals scored
  4. Match replay in case of parity

Goalscorers

There were 327 goals scored in 130 games for an average of 2.52 goals per game.
;6 goals
;5 goals
;4 goals
;3 goals
;2 goals
;1 goal
;1 own goal