Africa Cup 1978 / Qualification

A total of 27 teams registered to participate in the 1978 Africa Cup in Ghana.

The qualification went over three knockout rounds. Four teams did not take part in the qualification, two more were disqualified. The hosts and the defending champions were exempt from qualifying matches.

Qualifying matches

Preliminary round

October 24, 1976	Malawi	-	Mauritius	1: 1
01/28/1977	Mauritius *	-	Malawi	3: 2

First main round

September 18, 1977	Algeria	-	Kenya	4: 1
10/02/1977	Kenya	-	Algeria *	2: 1
	Zambia *	-	Sudan		Sudan withdrawn
September 18, 1977	Cameroon	-	People's Republic of the Congo	2-0
10/02/1977	People's Republic of the Congo *	-	Cameroon	4-0
	Gabon *	-	Central African Republic		Central Africa withdrawn
September 18, 1977	Upper Volta	-	Ivory Coast	0: 1
10/02/1977	Ivory Coast	-	Upper Volta *	4: 1	Ivory Coast disqualified
	Mali	-	Niger		Niger withdrew, Mali disqualified
09/28/1977	Mauritius	-	Ethiopia	2: 3
10/12/1977	Ethiopia *	-	Mauritius	1-0
	Uganda *	-	Tanzania		Tanzania withdrawn
September 18, 1977	Senegal	-	Togo	2: 1
10/02/1977	Togo	-	Senegal *	0: 1
September 18, 1977	Sierra Leone	-	Nigeria	1: 1
10/02/1977	Nigeria *	-	Sierra Leone	2-0
03/13/1977	Egypt	-	Tunisia	2: 2
04/27/1977	Tunisia *	-	Egypt	3: 2
September 18, 1977	Guinea	-	Libya	3-0
10/02/1977	Libya	-	Guinea *	0: 2

Second main round

10/30/1977	Algeria	-	Zambia	2-0
11/13/1977	Zambia *	-	Algeria	2-0	Zambia qualified after 6-5 on penalties
10/30/1977	People's Republic of the Congo	-	Gabon	3: 2
11/13/1977	Gabon	-	People's Republic of the Congo *	3: 3	Congo qualified
	Upper Volta *	-	Mali		Upper Volta qualified, Mali disqualified
11/30/1977	Ethiopia	-	Uganda	0-0
11/13/1977	Uganda *	-	Ethiopia	2: 1	Uganda qualified
10/30/1977	Senegal	-	Nigeria	3: 1
11/13/1977	Nigeria *	-	Senegal	3-0	Nigeria qualified
10/30/1977	Tunisia	-	Guinea	3-0
11/13/1977	Guinea	-	Tunisia *	3: 2	Tunisia qualified

automatically qualified:

•  Morocco (defending champion)
•  Ghana (hosts)