Africa Cup 1988 / qualification

A total of 36 teams registered to take part in the Africa Cup in 1988 , which was originally supposed to take place in Zambia. But before the start of the qualification, Morocco became the substitute host. The qualification went over three knockout rounds. Seven teams failed to qualify, Ethiopia withdrew during the qualification. Host Morocco and defending champions Egypt were exempt from qualifying matches.

Qualifying matches

Preliminary round

	Tunisia *	-	Mali		Mali withdrawn
	Algeria *				bye
	Libya *				bye
	Zambia *				bye
	Cameroon *				bye
1986	Uganda	-	Somalia	5-0
1986	Somalia	-	Uganda *	0-0
	Sudan *				bye
1986	Ethiopia	-	Tanzania	4: 2
1986	Tanzania *	-	Ethiopia		Withdrawn from Ethiopia
	Malawi *				bye
	Rwanda *	-	Lesotho		Lesotho withdrawn
	Ivory Coast *				bye
1986	Central African Republic	-	People's Republic of the Congo	1: 2
1986	People's Republic of the Congo *	-	Central African Republic	5: 1
	Nigeria *				bye
	Togo *	-	Equatorial Guinea		Equatorial Guinea withdrawn
	Ghana *				bye
1986	Sierra Leone	-	Liberia	2: 1
1986	Liberia	-	Sierra Leone *	1: 1
	Senegal *				bye
1986	Guinea	-	Gambia	2: 1
1986	Gambia	-	Guinea *	0: 1
	Zaire *				bye
1986	Angola	-	Gabon	1-0
1986	Gabon	-	Angola *	1-0	Angola 5-3 winners on penalties
	Mozambique *				bye
	Zimbabwe *				bye
	Kenya *				bye
	Madagascar *	-	Mauritius		Mauritius withdrawn

First main round

1987	Algeria	-	Tunisia	1-0
1987	Tunisia	-	Algeria *	1: 1
1987	Libya *	-	Zambia		Zambia withdrawn
1987	Cameroon	-	Uganda	5: 1
1987	Uganda	-	Cameroon *	3: 1
1987	Sudan	-	Tanzania	1-0
1987	Tanzania	-	Sudan *	1: 1
1987	Malawi *	-	Rwanda		Rwanda withdrawn
1987	Ivory Coast	-	People's Republic of the Congo	2-0
1987	People's Republic of the Congo	-	Ivory Coast *	1: 2
1987	Nigeria	-	Togo	2-0
1987	Togo	-	Nigeria *	1: 1
1987	Ghana	-	Sierra Leone	1: 2
1987	Sierra Leone *	-	Ghana	0-0
1987	Senegal	-	Guinea	4-0
1987	Guinea	-	Senegal *	0-0
1987	Zaire	-	Angola	3-0
1987	Angola	-	Zaire *	1-0
1987	Mozambique	-	Zimbabwe	1: 1
1987	Zimbabwe *	-	Mozambique	3: 2
1987	Kenya	-	Madagascar	2-0
1987	Madagascar	-	Kenya *	2: 1

Second main round

1987	Algeria *	-	Libya		Algeria qualified, Libya withdrawn
1987	Cameroon	-	Sudan	2-0
1987	Sudan	-	Cameroon *	1-0	Cameroon qualified
1987	Malawi	-	Ivory Coast	1: 2
1987	Ivory Coast *	-	Malawi	2-0	Ivory Coast qualified
1987	Nigeria	-	Sierra Leone	3-0
1987	Sierra Leone	-	Nigeria *	2-0	Nigeria qualified
1987	Senegal	-	Zaire	0-0
1987	Zaire *	-	Senegal	0-0	Zaire qualified after 4-2 on penalties
1987	Zimbabwe	-	Kenya	1: 1
1987	Kenya *	-	Zimbabwe	0-0	Kenya qualified

Automatically qualified:

•  Egypt (defending champion)
•  Morocco (hosts)