Africa Cup 1982 / qualification

A total of 35 teams registered to take part in the 1982 Africa Cup in Libya.

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

Qualifying matches

Preliminary round

	Mali	-	Mauritania	2-0
	Mauritania	-	Mali *	2: 1
	Algeria *				bye
	Upper Volta *				bye
	Gabon *				bye
	Cameroon *				bye
	Togo *				bye
	Madagascar	-	Mauritius	0-0
	Mauritius	-	Madagascar *	1: 1
	Tanzania *				bye
	Ghana *				bye
	Angola	-	People's Republic of the Congo	1: 1
	People's Republic of the Congo *	-	Angola	0-0
	Mozambique	-	Lesotho	6: 1
	Lesotho	-	Mozambique *	2: 1
	Zaire *				bye
	Ethiopia *				bye
	Rwanda *	-	Uganda		Uganda withdrawn
	Equatorial Guinea *	-	Benin		Benin withdrawn
	Guinea *				bye
	Morocco *				bye
	Liberia	-	Gambia	0-0
	Gambia	-	Liberia *	1: 1
	Malawi	-	Zimbabwe	0: 1
	Zimbabwe *	-	Malawi	1: 1
	Zambia *				bye
	Tunisia *				bye
	Senegal	-	Sierra Leone	2-0
	Sierra Leone	-	Senegal *	1: 2
	Egypt *				bye
	Kenya *				bye

First main round

1981	Algeria	-	Mali	5: 1
1981	Mali	-	Algeria *	3-0
	Upper Volta *	-	Gabon		Gabon withdrawn
1981	Cameroon	-	Togo *	4-0
1981	Togo	-	Cameroon *	2: 2
	Madagascar *	-	Tanzania		Tanzania withdrawn
1981	Ghana	-	People's Republic of the Congo	1: 1
1981	People's Republic of the Congo	-	Ghana *	0: 1
1981	Zaire	-	Mozambique	2: 1
1981	Mozambique	-	Zaire *	3: 3
1981	Ethiopia	-	Rwanda	1-0
1981	Rwanda	-	Ethiopia *	1-0	Ethiopia 4-3 winners on penalties
	Guinea *	-	Equatorial Guinea		Equatorial Guinea withdrawn
1981	Morocco	-	Liberia	3: 1
1981	Liberia	-	Morocco *	0: 5
1981	Zimbabwe	-	Zambia	0: 1
1981	Zambia *	-	Zimbabwe	2-0
1981	Tunisia	-	Senegal	1-0
1981	Senegal	-	Tunisia *	0-0
1981	Kenya	-	Egypt	3: 5
1981	Egypt *	-	Kenya	2-0

Second main round

1981	Algeria	-	Upper Volta	7-0
1981	Upper Volta	-	Algeria *	1: 1	Algeria qualified
1981	Cameroon	-	Madagascar	5: 1
1981	Madagascar	-	Cameroon *	2: 1	Cameroon qualified
1981	Ghana	-	Zaire	2: 2
1981	Zaire	-	Ghana *	1: 2	Ghana qualified
1981	Guinea	-	Ethiopia	2: 2
1981	Ethiopia *	-	Guinea	1: 1	Ethiopia qualified
1981	Morocco	-	Zambia	2: 1
1981	Zambia *	-	Morocco	2-0	Zambia qualified
	Tunisia *	-	Egypt		Tunisia qualified, Egypt withdrew

automatically qualified:

•  Nigeria (defending champion)
•  Libya (hosts)