The 54 CAF associations, which are also members of the world association FIFA , registered for the qualification . Réunion and Zanzibar are not members of FIFA. Zimbabwe was excluded from the preliminary round on March 12, 2015, so that ultimately 53 associations competed for qualification.
The 26 worst teams in the FIFA World Ranking competed against each other in Round 1. The first legs took place from 7 to 10 October 2015, the second legs from 11 to 13 October 2015. The 13 winners qualified for the second round.
1The game on October 7, 2015 was canceled after 10 minutes when the score was 1: 1 due to heavy rain. It continued the following day.
2Both the first leg and the second leg were played in Antananarivo , as the security situation in the Central African Republic did not allow it to be played there
Second round
The 13 winners of the first round met the 27 remaining participating associations in the second round. Thus, a total of 20 pairings were made in the second round, which are played in a home and return match. The first legs took place from November 11 to 14, 2015, the second legs on November 15 and 17, 2015. The 20 winners qualified for the third round, none of them from the first round.
The 20 winners of the second round were drawn into 5 groups of four for the third round. The draw took place on June 24, 2016 in Cairo. The group matches were played in championship mode with a return leg from October 3, 2016 to November 14, 2017. The group winners qualified for the 2018 World Cup in Russia .
B1The original 1-1 game between Algeria and Nigeria was converted by FIFA into a 3-0 win for Algeria after Nigeria used Abdullahi Shehu, an ineligible player due to a yellow card suspension.
1 The Ghanaian referee Joseph Odartei Lamptey was suspended for life by FIFA in March 2017 for match manipulation (violation of Art. 69 (1) of the Disciplinary Code), the game was canceled and repeated on 10 November 2017.
Below are the top scorers in the African World Cup qualification. If the number of goals is the same, it is sorted in ascending order according to the number of minutes played.