Africa Cup 1980 / qualification

A total of 28 teams registered to participate in the 1980 Africa Cup in Nigeria.

The qualification went over three knockout rounds. Four teams failed to qualify. The hosts and the defending champions were exempt from qualifying matches.

Qualifying matches

Preliminary round

December 3, 1978	Madagascar	-	Malawi	2: 1
December 17, 1978	Malawi *	-	Madagascar	5: 1
08/12/1979	Mauritius	-	Lesotho	0: 1
08/26/1979	Lesotho	-	Mauritius *	1: 2

First main round

09/16/1979	Libya	-	Ethiopia	2: 1
09/30/1979	Ethiopia	-	Libya *	1: 1
	Algeria *	-	Burundi		Burundi withdrawn
	Kenya *	-	Tunisia		Tunisia withdrawn
	Egypt *	-	Somalia		Somalia withdrawn
09/16/1979	Mauritania	-	Morocco	2: 2
09/30/1979	Morocco *	-	Mauritania	4: 1
09/16/1979	Togo	-	Gambia	2-0
09/30/1979	Gambia	-	Togo *	1-0
09/16/1979	Benin	-	Ivory Coast	1-0
09/30/1979	Ivory Coast *	-	Benin	4: 1
	Sudan *	-	Uganda		Uganda withdrawn
04/15/1979	Malawi	-	Zambia	0: 2
04/29/1979	Zambia *	-	Malawi	2-0
09/16/1979	Mauritius	-	Tanzania	3: 2
09/30/1979	Tanzania *	-	Mauritius	4-0
09/16/1979	Guinea	-	Cameroon	3-0
09/30/1979	Cameroon	-	Guinea *	3-0	Guinea winner on penalties
09/16/1979	People's Republic of the Congo	-	Zaire	4: 2
09/30/1979	Zaire *	-	People's Republic of the Congo	4: 1

Second main round

October 24, 1979	Algeria	-	Libya	3: 1
11/06/1979	Libya	-	Algeria *	1-0	Algeria qualified
October 24, 1979	Kenya	-	Egypt	3: 1
11/06/1979	Egypt *	-	Kenya	3-0	Egypt qualified
10/28/1979	Morocco	-	Togo	7-0
11/11/1979	Togo	-	Morocco *	2: 1	Morocco qualified
10/28/1979	Sudan	-	Ivory Coast	2-0
11/11/1979	Ivory Coast *	-	Sudan	4-0	Ivory Coast qualified
10/28/1979	Tanzania	-	Zambia	1-0
11/11/1979	Zambia	-	Tanzania *	1: 1	Tanzania qualified
10/28/1979	Zaire	-	Guinea	3: 2
11/11/1979	Guinea *	-	Zaire	3: 1	Guinea qualified

automatically qualified:

•  Ghana (defending champion)
•  Nigeria (hosts)