2010 FIFA World Cup qualification (CAF)

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) section of the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification saw teams compete for five berths in the final tournament in South Africa. The qualification stage doubled as the qualification stage for the 2010 African Cup of Nations, with fifteen teams qualifying for the finals held in Angola.

2010 FIFA World Cup qualification (CAF)
Tournament details
Dates14 October 2007 – 18 November 2009
Teams51[1] (from 1 confederation)
Tournament statistics
Matches played202
Goals scored505 (2.5 per match)
Attendance4,219,427 (20,888 per match)
Top scorer(s)Burkina Faso Moumouni Dagano
(12 goals)
2006
2014
Result:
  Countries that qualified for the 2010 World Cup and 2010 African Cup of Nations
  Countries that qualified for the 2010 African Cup of Nations
  Countries that did not qualify for the 2010 World Cup or 2010 African Cup of Nations
  Countries that withdrew or were disqualified
■ Host nation of the 2010 World Cup
◆ Host nation of the 2010 African Cup of Nations

In total, 53 nations participated; however, due to the presence of the two tournaments' respective hosts, 52 teams were involved in each competition. South Africa qualified automatically as host for the World Cup,[2] and Angola qualified as host for the African Cup of Nations. Both nevertheless competed in the qualifying phase to attempt to qualify for the other tournament.

This was the first time since 1934 that the hosts would compete in World Cup qualifiers. Angola's situation mirrored that of Egypt in the 2006 World Cup qualifiers in Africa, which doubled as the qualifiers to the 2006 African Cup of Nations hosted by Egypt.[3]

First round edit

Five knockout ties were originally required, involving the ten lowest ranked African countries (based on FIFA rankings as of July 2007). The actual draw was apparently conducted one day before the format was announced by CAF. The pairings were:[4]

São Tomé and Príncipe and the Central African Republic both withdrew in early September. As a result, Swaziland and Seychelles (the highest ranked of the ten nations) were no longer required to play in this round, and the teams they were originally matched against, Somalia and Djibouti, were redrawn to play each other instead.[5] The tie between Djibouti and Somalia was played as a one leg tie in Djibouti, as Somalia was not deemed suitable for FIFA matches; the other two ties were played as two leg ties.

Team 1Agg.Tooltip Aggregate scoreTeam 21st leg2nd leg
Madagascar  10–2  Comoros6–24–0
Djibouti  1–0  Somalia1–0N/A
Sierra Leone  1–0  Guinea-Bissau1–00–0

Second round edit

The 48 qualifiers (45 direct entrants plus 3 winners of the first round) were split into 12 groups of 4 in the draw held in Durban, South Africa on 25 November 2007. Teams in each group played a home-and-away round-robin in 2008, with the 12 groups winners and 8 best runners-up advancing to the third round. As not all groups were of equal size after the exclusion of Ethiopia and the withdrawal of Eritrea, when ranking the runners-up, their results against their group's 4th placed team would not be counted.[6]

Seeding edit

One team from each of the following pots were drawn into each group.[7]

Pot APot BPot CPot D

 Cameroon
 Nigeria
 Ivory Coast
 Morocco
 Ghana
 Tunisia
 Egypt
 Guinea
 Senegal
 Mali
 Angola
 Togo

 Zambia
 South Africa
 Cape Verde
 DR Congo
 Algeria
 Burkina Faso
 Benin
 Mozambique
 Libya
 Ethiopia
 Congo
 Zimbabwe

 Uganda
 Botswana
 Equatorial Guinea
 Tanzania
 Gabon
 Malawi
 Sudan
 Burundi
 Liberia
 Rwanda
 Eritrea
 Namibia

 Gambia
 Mauritania
 Kenya
 Chad
 Lesotho
 Mauritius
 Niger
 Swaziland
 Seychelles
 Sierra Leone
 Madagascar
 Djibouti

Group 1 edit

TeamPldWDLGFGAGDPtsQualification
 Cameroon6510142+1216Advance to third round2–02–15–0
 Cape Verde630378−191–21–03–1
 Tanzania622296+380–03–11–1
 Mauritius6015317−1410–30–11–4
Source: [8]

Group 2 edit

TeamPldWDLGFGAGDPtsQualification
 Guinea632195+411Advance to third round3–20–04–0
 Kenya631285+3102–02–01–0
 Zimbabwe613246−260–00–02–0
 Namibia6204712−561–22–14–2
Source: [8]

Group 3 edit

TeamPldWDLGFGAGDPtsQualification
 Benin6402128+412Advance to third round3–24–12–0
 Angola6312118+3103–00–03–1
 Uganda631289−1102–13–11–0
 Niger6105511−630–21–23–1
Source: [8]

Note: Angola were automatically qualified as hosts of the 2010 African Cup of Nations. However, they were subject to the same rules as other nations for continuation to the next stage of the qualifiers. Failure to advance from this group eliminated them from the qualifiers for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

Group 4 edit

TeamPldWDLGFGAGDPtsQualification
 Nigeria6600111+1018Advance to third round2–04–12–0
 South Africa621355070–10–04–1
 Sierra Leone621348−470–11–02–1
 Equatorial Guinea6105410−630–10–12–0
Source: [8]

Note: South Africa were automatically qualified as hosts of the 2010 FIFA World Cup. However, they were subject to the same rules as other nations for continuation to the next stage of the qualifiers. Failure to advance from this group eliminated them from the qualifiers for the 2010 African Cup of Nations.

Group 5 edit

TeamPldWDLGFGAGDPtsQualification
 Ghana6402115+612Advance to third round2–03–03–0
 Gabon640283+5122–01–02–0
 Libya640274+3121–01–04–0
 Lesotho6006216−1402–30–30–1
Source: [8]

Group 6 edit

TeamPldWDLGFGAGDPtsQualification
 Algeria631274+310Advance to third round1–03–23–0
 Gambia623163+391–00–03–0
 Senegal623197+291–01–13–1
 Liberia6033412−830–01–12–2
Source: [8]

Group 7 edit

TeamPldWDLGFGAGDPtsQualification
 Ivory Coast6330102+812Advance to third round1–03–04–0
 Mozambique622275+281–13–01–2
 Madagascar613227−560–01–11–0
 Botswana612338−551–10–10–0
Source: [8]

On 19 March 2007, FIFA announced the immediate suspension of the Malagasy Football Federation (FMF).[9] The suspension was lifted on 19 May 2008.[10]

Group 8 edit

TeamPldWDLGFGAGDPtsQualification
 Morocco4301115+69Advance to third round2–04–13–0
 Rwanda430173+493–13–0Canc.
 Mauritania4004212−1001–40–10–1
 Ethiopia[a]00000000SuspendedCanc.1–26–1
Source: [8]
Notes:
  1. ^ Ethiopia were excluded from the competition due to FIFA's suspension of the Ethiopian Football Federation on 29 July 2008, and the results of their matches were annulled.[11]

Ethiopia played four matches in this group, before FIFA announced the immediate suspension of the Ethiopian Football Federation (EFF) on 29 July 2008.[12]On 12 September 2008, FIFA excluded the EFF from the 2010 World Cup qualifiers and the results of their matches were cancelled.[13] While it was not clear if they were also explicitly excluded from the 2010 African Cup of Nations, their failure to complete the remaining fixtures effectively eliminated them from the tournament.

Group 9 edit

TeamPldWDLGFGAGDPtsQualification
 Burkina Faso6510145+916Advance to third round0–02–04–1
 Tunisia6411113+8131–22–15–0
 Burundi620459−461–30–11–0
 Seychelles6006417−1302–30–21–2
Source: [8]

Group 10 edit

TeamPldWDLGFGAGDPtsQualification
 Mali6402138+512Advance to third round3–04–22–1
 Sudan630399093–22–01–2
 Congo630378−191–01–02–0
 Chad6204711−461–21–32–1
Source: [8]

On 28 March 2008, FIFA announced the immediate suspension of the Chadian Football Federation.[14] The suspension was lifted on 7 May 2008.[15]

Chad was disqualified from the 2010 African Nations Cup qualifiers after failing to show up for their away match against Sudan, despite security guarantees. The match was subsequently rescheduled. Only matches between Mali, Sudan and Congo were taken into account for the qualification of the second round of the preliminaries of the African Cup of Nations. However, Chad was still able qualify for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.[16] This could have led to complications if Chad had advanced to the next round or if Chad's exclusion the now alternate group standings had produced different group winners and impacted on the ranking of the second-placed side.

For African Cup of Nations qualification:

TeamPldWDLGFGAGDPts
 Mali420296+36[a]3–04–2
 Sudan420256−16[a]3–22–0
 Congo420246−26[a]1–01–0
Source: [citation needed]
Notes:
  1. ^ a b c Mali, Sudan and Congo are ranked by their overall goal difference.

Group 11 edit

TeamPldWDLGFGAGDPtsQualification
 Zambia421121+17Advance to third round1–01–0
 Togo420283+561–06–0
 Swaziland411228−640–02–1
Source: [8]

Eritrea withdrew from the qualifiers on 25 March 2008 and were not replaced.[17]

Group 12 edit

TeamPldWDLGFGAGDPtsQualification
 Egypt6501132+1115Advance to third round2–02–14–0
 Malawi6402145+9121–02–18–1
 DR Congo6303146+890–11–05–1
 Djibouti6006230−2800–40–30–6
Source: [8]

Rankings of runners-up edit

Along with the 12 group winners, the 8 highest-ranked runners-up also advanced to the third round. Because not all groups contained an equal number of teams, only results against the first- and third-placed teams in each group counted.

GrpTeamPldWDLGFGAGDPtsQualification
8  Rwanda430173+49Advance to third round
2  Kenya421163+37
9  Tunisia421143+17
11  Togo420283+56
5  Gabon42023306
10  Sudan420256−16
12  Malawi420234−16
7  Mozambique412153+25
6  Gambia41212205
3  Angola41126604
1  Cape Verde410337−43
4  South Africa401304−41
Source: [8]

Third round edit

The 20 remaining sides were split into five groups of four. The draw for the groups took place on 22 October 2008 in Zürich, Switzerland.[18]

The five group winners qualified for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, and were joined by the group runners-up and third-placed teams in qualifying for the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations.

Seeding edit

Teams were seeded based on their FIFA World Rankings in October 2008 (number in parentheses).[19] One team from each of the following pots was drawn into each group.[20]

Pot 1Pot 2Pot 3Pot 4

 Cameroon (12)
 Egypt (22)
 Ghana (25)
 Nigeria (27)
 Ivory Coast (29)

 Guinea (41)
 Morocco (43)
 Tunisia (47)
 Mali (53)
 Algeria (56)

 Burkina Faso (63)
 Gabon (67)
 Zambia (70)
 Kenya (79)
 Benin (81)

 Rwanda (87)
 Togo (91)
 Mozambique (100)
 Sudan (106)
 Malawi (109)

Group A edit

TeamPldWDLGFGAGDPtsQualification
 Cameroon641192+713Qualified for the 2010 FIFA World Cup and 2010 Africa Cup of Nations2–13–00–0
 Gabon630397+29Qualified for the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations0–23–03–1
 Togo622237−481–01–01–1
 Morocco603338−530–21–20–0
Source: [8]

Group B edit

TeamPldWDLGFGAGDPtsQualification
 Nigeria633094+512Qualified for the 2010 FIFA World Cup and 2010 Africa Cup of Nations2–21–03–0
 Tunisia632174+311Qualified for the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations0–02–01–0
 Mozambique621335−270–01–01–0
 Kenya6105511−632–31–22–1
Source: [8]

Group C edit

TeamPldWDLGFGAGDPtsQualification
 Algeria641194+513[a]Qualified for the 2010 FIFA World Cup and 2010 Africa Cup of Nations3–11–03–1
 Egypt641194+513[a]Qualified for the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations2–01–13–0
 Zambia612325−350–20–11–0
 Rwanda602418−720–00–10–0
Source: [8]
Notes:
  1. ^ a b Algeria and Egypt finished with identical overall and head-to-head records. Algeria won the tiebreaking play-off 1–0 to qualify for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

Group D edit

TeamPldWDLGFGAGDPtsQualification
 Ghana641193+613Qualified for the 2010 FIFA World Cup and 2010 Africa Cup of Nations1–02–22–0
 Benin631266010Qualified for the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations1–01–11–0
 Mali623187+190–23–11–0
 Sudan601529−710–21–21–1
Source: [8]

Group E edit

TeamPldWDLGFGAGDPtsQualification
 Ivory Coast6510194+1516Qualified for the 2010 FIFA World Cup and 2010 Africa Cup of Nations5–05–03–0
 Burkina Faso64021011−112Qualified for the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations2–31–04–2
 Malawi6114411−741–10–12–1
 Guinea6105714−731–21–22–1
Source: [8]

Qualified teams edit

The following six teams from CAF qualified for the final tournament.

TeamQualified asQualified onPrevious appearances in FIFA World Cup1
 South AfricaHosts15 May 20042 (1998, 2002)
 CameroonThird round Group A winners14 November 20095 (1982, 1990, 1994, 1998, 2002)
 NigeriaThird round Group B winners14 November 20093 (1994, 1998, 2002)
 AlgeriaThird round Group C winners18 November 20092 (1982, 1986)
 GhanaThird round Group D winners6 September 20091 (2006)
 Ivory CoastThird round Group E winners10 October 20091 (2006)
1 Bold indicates champions for that year. Italic indicates hosts for that year.

Top goalscorers edit

There were 505 goals scored in 202 matches, for an average of 2.5 goals per match.

12 goals

9 goals

8 goals

6 goals

5 goals

Below are full goalscorer lists for each round:

References edit

  1. ^ Eritrea withdrew before playing any matches and Ethiopia was suspended by FIFA. They had played four games but the results were not officially recorded.
  2. ^ FIFA.com Archived 10 June 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ "Hosts South Africa to play in 2010 World Cup qualifiers". Archived from the original on 31 December 2007. Retrieved 21 August 2007.
  4. ^ FIFA World Cup qualifiers get underway in Africa
  5. ^ African pair pull out of qualifying race
  6. ^ Second place Clarification Archived June 17, 2008, at the Wayback Machine, FIFA, retrieved 15 June 2008
  7. ^ Preliminary Draw Information - Africa Archived 2019-07-09 at the Wayback Machine, FIFA, retrieved 23 November 2007
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r "FIFA World Cup qualification (CAF) 2010, football - table and standings". soccer365.me. Retrieved 11 April 2024.
  9. ^ "Malagasy Football Association suspended". FIFA. 19 March 2008. Archived from the original on 23 March 2008. Retrieved 29 March 2008.
  10. ^ "Suspension of the Madagascan football association lifted". FIFA. 19 May 2008. Archived from the original on 20 May 2008. Retrieved 19 May 2008.
  11. ^ "Ethiopia excluded from the preliminary competition". FIFA. Archived from the original on 13 September 2008. Retrieved 12 September 2008.
  12. ^ "Ethiopian Football Federation suspended". FIFA. 29 July 2008. Archived from the original on 7 August 2008. Retrieved 29 July 2008.
  13. ^ "Ethiopia excluded from the preliminary competition". FIFA. 12 September 2008. Archived from the original on 13 September 2008. Retrieved 12 September 2008.
  14. ^ "FIFA suspends Chad soccer federation because of government interference". Yahoo! Sports. 28 March 2008. Retrieved 28 March 2008.
  15. ^ "Suspension of the Chad football association lifted". FIFA. 7 May 2008. Archived from the original on 9 May 2008. Retrieved 8 May 2008.
  16. ^ "Disqualification of Chad National team from ACN 2010". CAF. 3 June 2008. Archived from the original on 20 June 2008. Retrieved 4 June 2008.
  17. ^ "Eritrea withdraw from qualifiers". FIFA. 25 March 2008. Archived from the original on 1 April 2008. Retrieved 25 March 2008.
  18. ^ "Date Set For World Cup Qualifiers Draw". MTNFootball. 19 September 2008. Archived from the original on 18 October 2008. Retrieved 21 September 2008.
  19. ^ African seeds established, FIFA, retrieved 13 October 2008
  20. ^ 3rd stage format and draw, FIFA, retrieved 22 October 2008

External links edit