Africa Cup of Nations - Qualification

Africa Cup of Nations - Qualification (CAF Africa Cup of Nations qualification) - the qualifying competition for national teams that determines the line-up for the Africa Cup of Nations final tournament. Regulations: the final tournament is set for 24 teams, with the host nation qualifying automatically, while the remaining places are allocated through qualification, and the organisation of the qualifying phase and the number of qualifying places per phase are set by CAF. In practice, qualification typically includes a preliminary round played as a two-legged home-and-away tie, decided on aggregate score, then away goals, and if still level, a penalty shoot-out with no extra time. The main stage is typically a group competition played home and away, with 3 points for a win, 1 for a draw and 0 for a loss, and as a rule the top two teams in each group qualify for the finals, while if the host nation is in a qualifying group, the number of qualifying places for the other teams in that group is reduced by one. If teams are level on points in a group, rankings are determined first by head-to-head criteria, including points, goal difference, goals scored and away goals in the head-to-head matches, then by overall goal difference and overall goals scored, and finally by drawing of lots.