2018 African Nations Championship qualification

The 2018 African Nations Championship qualification was a men's football competition which decided the participating teams of the 2018 [African Nations Championship]. Only national team players who were playing in their country's own domestic league were eligible to compete in the tournament.
A total of sixteen teams qualified to play in the final tournament.

Teams

A total of 48 CAF member national teams entered the qualifying rounds, split into zones according to their regional affiliations.

Zone	Spots	Teams entering qualification	Did not enter
North Zone	2 spots	' '
West A Zone	2 spots	' '
West B Zone	3 spots	' ' '
Central Zone	3 spots	' ' '
Central-East Zone	3 spots	' ' '
South Zone	3 spots	' ' '
Total	16 spots	48 teams

;Notes

Teams in bold qualified for the final tournament.
Central African Republic were excluded by the CAF from participating because of their withdrawal against DR Congo in the 2016 [African Nations Championship qualification].
Chad withdrew on 27 March 2016, but however, on 24 May 2016, Chad announced that they would not be able to qualify for CHAN 2018, and São Tomé and Príncipe officially entered the qualification, along with Equatorial Guinea.
Egypt were expected to withdraw from the CHAN 2018, but however, on 4 June 2016, it was announced that Egypt would participate in the CHAN 2018 qualification.
On 12 March 2017, the Football Association of Malawi announced their senior national football team would withdraw from the competition due to the lack of funding. However, they later announced its reversal of this decision and would continue to compete.
Kenya were the original hosts and would have qualified automatically. However, on 23 September 2017, the CAF decided to withdraw their hosting rights due to a lack of progress with preparations.
Morocco were named as the new hosts on 14 October 2017. Since they had already qualified in the North Zone, their spot in the final tournament was re-allocated to Egypt, which lost to Morocco in the [|North Zone] final qualifying round. However, Egypt declined to participate citing a "congested domestic calendar". As a result, the spot was reverted to Central-East Zone, and would go to the winner of a play-off between Ethiopia and Rwanda, the two teams which lost in the Central-East Zone final qualifying round.

Schedule

The draw was held on 3 February 2017 at Libreville, Gabon.
The schedule of the qualifying rounds was as follows.

Format

Qualification ties were played on a home-and-away two-legged basis. If the aggregate score was tied after the second leg, the away goals rule would be applied, and if still level, the penalty shoot-out would be used to determine the winner.

North Zone

All four teams entered the first round.

First round

Winners qualify for 2018 African Nations Championship.

West A Zone

All eight teams entered the first round.

Second round

Winners qualify for 2018 African Nations Championship.

West B Zone

Two teams entered the first round.
Five teams entered the second round.

Second round

Winners qualify for 2018 African Nations Championship.

Central Zone

All six teams entered the first round.

First round

Winners qualify for 2018 African Nations Championship.

Central-East Zone

Two teams entered the first round.
Seven teams entered the second round.

Third round

Winners qualify for 2018 African Nations Championship.

Play-off

Winner qualifies for 2018 African Nations Championship.

South Zone

Four teams entered the first round.
Ten teams entered the second round.

Third round

Winners qualify for 2018 African Nations Championship.

Qualified teams

The following 16 teams qualified for the final tournament.

Team	Qualifying zone	Qualified on	Previous appearances in African Nations Championship¹
	North Zone		2
	North Zone		2
	West A Zone		1
	West A Zone		1
	West B Zone		2
	West B Zone		3
	West B Zone		1
	Central Zone		0
	Central Zone		1
	Central Zone		2
	Central-East Zone		3
	Central-East Zone		1
	Central-East Zone		2
	South Zone		2
	South Zone		0
	South Zone		2

Goalscorers

;8 goals

Sékou Amadou Camara

;4 goals

;3 goals

;2 goals

;1 goal

;Own goals