Africa Cup of Nations 1990 / qualification

A total of 35 teams registered to take part in the 1990 Africa Cup , the final of which was held in Algeria.

The qualification went over three knockout rounds. Seven teams failed to qualify. Host Algeria and defending champions Cameroon were exempt from qualifying matches.

Qualifying matches

Preliminary round

	Ethiopia *	-	Uganda		Uganda withdrawn
	Egypt *				bye
	Zaire *				bye
	Sierra Leone *				bye
	Guinea *	-	Gambia		Gambia withdrawn
	Nigeria *				bye
1988	Mauritius	-	Seychelles	3-0
1988	Seychelles	-	Mauritius *	1-0
	Zimbabwe *				bye
1988	Tanzania	-	Swaziland	1: 1
1988	Swaziland *	-	Tanzania	1: 1	Swaziland 3-1 winner on penalties
	Malawi *				bye
	Sudan *				bye
	Kenya *				bye
1988	Liberia	-	Mali	0: 1
1988	Mali *	-	Liberia	3-0
	Morocco *				bye
1988	Angola	-	Equatorial Guinea	4: 1
1988	Equatorial Guinea	-	Angola *	0-0
	Ivory Coast *				bye
	Senegal *				bye
	Togo *				bye
	Tunisia *				bye
	Libya *	-	Mauritania		Mauritania withdrawn
	Mozambique *	-	Madagascar		Madagascar withdrawn
	Zambia *				bye
1988	Gabon	-	Burkina Faso	3-0
1988	Burkina Faso	-	Gabon *	1-0
	Ghana *				bye

First main round

1989	Ethiopia	-	Egypt	1-0
1989	Egypt *	-	Ethiopia	6: 1
1989	Zaire *	-	Sierra Leone		Sierra Leone withdrawn
1989	Guinea	-	Nigeria	1: 1
1989	Nigeria *	-	Guinea	3-0
1989	Mauritius	-	Zimbabwe	1: 4
1989	Zimbabwe *	-	Mauritius	1-0
1989	Swaziland	-	Malawi	0: 2
1989	Malawi *	-	Swaziland	1: 1
1989	Sudan	-	Kenya	1-0
1989	Kenya *	-	Sudan	1-0	Kenya 6-5 winners on penalties
1989	Mali	-	Morocco	0-0
1989	Morocco	-	Mali *	1: 1
1989	Angola	-	Ivory Coast	0: 2
1989	Ivory Coast *	-	Angola	4: 1
1989	Senegal *	-	Togo		Togo withdrawn
1989	Tunisia *	-	Libya		Libya withdrawn
1989	Mozambique	-	Zambia	0: 1
1989	Zambia *	-	Mozambique	3-0
1989	Gabon	-	Ghana	1-0
1989	Ghana	-	Gabon *	1-0	Gabon 5-3 winners on penalties

Second main round

1989	Egypt	-	Zaire	2-0
1989	Zaire	-	Egypt *	0-0	Egypt qualified
1989	Nigeria	-	Zimbabwe	3-0
1989	Zimbabwe	-	Nigeria *	1: 1	Nigeria qualified
1989	Malawi	-	Kenya	2: 3
1989	Kenya *	-	Malawi	0-0	Kenya qualified
1989	Mali	-	Ivory Coast	2: 2
1989	Ivory Coast *	-	Mali	3: 1	Ivory Coast qualified
1989	Senegal	-	Tunisia	3-0
1989	Tunisia	-	Senegal *	0: 1	Senegal qualified
1989	Zambia	-	Gabon	3-0
1989	Gabon	-	Zambia *	2: 1	Zambia qualified

Automatically qualified:

•  Cameroon (defending champion)
•  Algeria (hosts)