2020 African Nations Championship qualification

The 2020 African Nations Championship qualification was a men's football competition which decided the participating teams of the 2020 [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 16 teams qualified to play in the final tournament, including Cameroon which qualified automatically as hosts.

Teams

Originally, a total of 47 CAF member national teams entered the qualifying rounds, split into zones according to their regional affiliations. The draw for the qualifying rounds was held on 30 January 2019 at the CAF headquarters in Cairo, Egypt. A re-draw of the [|Central Eastern Zone] was announced on 3 July 2019, after Ethiopia and Djibouti were included. A re-draw of the [|Central Zone] was also made, after Cameroon were excluded from qualifying. Therefore, a total of 48 teams CAF member national teams entered the qualifying rounds after the re-draws.

Zone	Spots	Teams entering qualification	Did not enter
Northern Zone	2 spots	' '
Western Zone A	2 spots	'
Western Zone B	3 spots	' ' ' '
Central Zone	2 spots + '	'
Central Eastern Zone	3 spots	' ' '
Southern Zone	3 spots	' ' ' ' ' ' '

;Notes

Teams in bold qualified for the final tournament.
Teams in italics received a bye to the second round in the qualifying draw.
''': Withdrew after draw

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.

Schedule

The schedule of the qualifying rounds was as follows.

Northern Zone

Winners qualified for 2020 African Nations Championship.

Western Zone A

Second round

Winners qualified for 2020 African Nations Championship.

Western Zone B

Second round

Winners qualified for 2020 African Nations Championship.

Central Zone

Original draw :

First round: Central African Republic vs Chad.
Second round: Winner [|1] vs DR Congo, São Tomé and Príncipe vs Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea vs Congo.

Second round

Winners qualified for 2020 African Nations Championship.

Central Eastern Zone

Original draw :

First round: Tanzania vs Sudan, Kenya vs Burundi, South Sudan vs Uganda, Somalia vs Rwanda.
Second round: Winner 2 vs Winner 1, Winner 4 vs Winner 3.

Second round

Winners qualified for 2020 African Nations Championship.

Southern Zone

Third round

Winners qualified for 2020 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
	Central Zone	13 4 2019	3
	Northern Zone		3
	Northern Zone		3
	Western Zone A		3
	Western Zone A		2
	Western Zone B		0
	Western Zone B		2
	Western Zone B		2
	Central Zone		4
	Central Zone		2
	Central Eastern Zone		4
	Central Eastern Zone		3
	Central Eastern Zone		1
	Southern Zone		3
	Southern Zone		1
	Southern Zone		4