Africa Cup 1986 / qualification

A total of 34 teams registered to participate in the 1986 Africa Cup in Egypt.

The qualification went over three knockout rounds. Ethiopia and Sudan did not participate in the qualification, Sierra Leone and Tanzania withdrew during the qualification. The hosts and the defending champions were exempt from qualifying matches.

Qualifying matches

Preliminary round

	Ivory Coast *				bye
1985	Mali	-	Benin	1-0
1985	Benin	-	Mali *	2: 2
	Ghana *				bye
	Guinea *				bye
	Sudan *				bye
1985	Somalia	-	Kenya	1-0
1985	Kenya *	-	Somalia	1-0	Kenya 4-3 winners on penalties
1985	Liberia	-	Mauritania	3: 1
1985	Mauritania *	-	Liberia	3-0
	Algeria *				bye
	Libya *				bye
	Tunisia *				bye
1985	Mauritius	-	Mozambique	0-0
1985	Mozambique *	-	Mauritius	3-0
	Malawi *				bye
	Morocco *				bye
1985	Gambia	-	Sierra Leone	3: 2
1985	Sierra Leone *	-	Gambia	2-0
1985	Zaire	-	Gabon	2-0
1985	Gabon	-	Zaire *	1: 1
	People's Republic of the Congo *				bye
	Nigeria *				bye
1985	Tanzania	-	Uganda	0: 1
1985	Uganda	-	Tanzania *	1: 3
	Zambia *				bye
	Ethiopia *				bye
	Madagascar *				bye
1985	Zimbabwe	-	Swaziland	3-0
1985	Swaziland	-	Zimbabwe *	1: 5
	Togo *				bye
	Senegal *				bye

First main round

1985	Ivory Coast	-	Mali	6-0
1985	Mali	-	Ivory Coast *	1: 1
1985	Ghana *	-	Guinea	1: 1
1985	Guinea	-	Ghana *	1: 4
	Kenya *	-	Sudan		Sudan withdrawn
1985	Algeria *	-	Mauritania	4-0
1985	Mauritania	-	Algeria *	1: 1
1985	Libya	-	Tunisia	2-0
1985	Tunisia	-	Libya *	1-0
1985	Malawi	-	Mozambique	1: 1
1985	Mozambique *	-	Malawi	1: 1	Mozambique 6-5 winners on penalties
	Morocco *	-	Sierra Leone		Sierra Leone withdrawn
1985	People's Republic of the Congo	-	Zaire	2: 5
1985	Zaire *	-	People's Republic of the Congo	0-0
	Nigeria *	-	Tanzania		Tanzania withdrawn
	Zambia *	-	Ethiopia		Withdrawn from Ethiopia
1985	Madagascar	-	Zimbabwe	0: 1
1985	Zimbabwe *	-	Madagascar	5: 2
1985	Togo	-	Senegal	0: 1
1985	Senegal *	-	Togo	1: 1

Second main round

1985	Ivory Coast	-	Ghana	2-0
1985	Ghana	-	Ivory Coast *	0-0	Ivory Coast qualified
1985	Kenya	-	Algeria	0-0
1985	Algeria *	-	Kenya	3-0	Algeria qualified
1985	Libya	-	Mozambique	2: 1
1985	Mozambique *	-	Libya	2: 1	Mozambique qualified after 4-3 on penalties
1985	Morocco	-	Zaire	1-0
1985	Zaire	-	Morocco *	0-0	Morocco qualified
1985	Nigeria	-	Zambia	0-0
1985	Zambia *	-	Nigeria	1-0	Zambia qualified
1985	Zimbabwe	-	Senegal	1-0
1985	Senegal *	-	Zimbabwe	3-0	Senegal qualified

automatically qualified:

•  Cameroon (defending champion)
•  Egypt (hosts)