1974 African Cup of Nations qualification

Football tournament

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Qualification for championships (CAF)
FIFA World Cup 1958 1962 1966 1970 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018 2022 2026 2030
Africa Cup of Nations 1962 1963 1965 1968 1970 1972 1974 1976 1978 1980 1982 1984 1986 1988 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2013 2015 2017 2019 2021 2023 2025
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This page details the process of qualifying for the 1974 African Cup of Nations which was held in Egypt in March 1974. Eight teams qualified for the finals, including Egypt as hosts and Congo as the holders of the title, having won the 1972 tournament in Cameroon.

Qualification followed a knock-out model, with teams playing two-legged ties with another, one match being played at a home venue for each team. After a preliminary round, 24 teams competed in the first round of qualification. The winners went on to the second round with the winning teams from those ties qualifying for the finals. Matches were held between March and July 1973. A number of teams withdrew at the preliminary or first round stages of the tournament with their scheduled opponents automatically progressing to the next round. After winning their first round match the Central African Republic were disqualified and their opponents, Ivory Coast progressed to the second round, eventually reaching the finals.

Alongside Ivory Coast, Guinea, Mauritius, Uganda, Zaire and Zambia reached the finals, Uganda having taken part in the preliminary round of the qualification process.

Qualifying tournament

Preliminary round

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Somalia	2–5	Uganda	2–0	0–5
Central African Republic	w/o	Gabon	—	—
Sierra Leone	w/o	Dahomey	—	—

10 March 1973

Somalia	2–0	Uganda

Mogadishu Stadium, Mogadishu 24 March 1973

Uganda	5–0	Somalia

Nakivubo Stadium, Kampala

Uganda won 5–2 on aggregate.

Central African Republic	Cancelled	Gabon
		Withdrew

Central African Republic progress, Gabon withdrew.

Sierra Leone	Cancelled	Dahomey
		Withdrew

Sierra Leone progress, Dahomey withdrew.

First round

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Sierra Leone	3–5	Mali	1–1	2–4
Ghana	3–3 (5–3 p)	Senegal	3–2	0–1
Central African Republic	5–6	Ivory Coast	4–2	1–5
Ethiopia	2–4	Tanzania	2–1	0–3
Lesotho	1–5	Mauritius	0–0	1–5
Sudan	2–3	Nigeria	1–1	1–2
Upper Volta	1–9	Zaire	0–5	1–4
Uganda	3–1	Kenya	1–0	2–1
Zambia	4–3	Madagascar	3–1	1–2
Algeria	w/o	Libya	—	—
Cameroon	w/o	Niger	—	—
Guinea	w/o	Togo	—	—

31 March 1973

Sierra Leone	1–1	Mali
		Bocoum 39'

Freetown 28 April 1973

Mali	4–2	Sierra Leone

Stade Mamadou Konaté, Bamako

Mali won 5–3 on aggregate.

8 April 1973

Ghana	3–2	Senegal

Accra Sports Stadium, Accra 21 April 1973

Senegal	1–0	Ghana

Penalties
	3–5

Stade Demba Diop, Dakar

Ghana won 5–3 on penalties after 3–3 on aggregate.

8 April 1973

Central African Republic	4–2	Ivory Coast

Bangui 22 April 1973

Ivory Coast	2–1 Abandoned	Central African Republic

Stade Félix Houphouët-Boigny, Abidjan 29 July 1973

Ivory Coast	5–1	Central African Republic

Surulere Stadium, Lagos

Ivory Coast won 6–5 on aggregate.

8 April 1973

Ethiopia	2–1	Tanzania

Haile Selassie Stadium, Addis Ababa 22 April 1973

Tanzania	3–0	Ethiopia

National Stadium, Dar es Salaam

Tanzania won 4–2 on aggregate.

8 April 1973

Lesotho	0–0	Mauritius

Maseru 22 April 1973

Mauritius	5–1	Lesotho

Port Louis

Mauritius won 5–1 on aggregate.

13 April 1973

Sudan	1–1	Nigeria

Khartoum Stadium, Khartoum 21 April 1973

Nigeria	2–1	Sudan

Surulere Stadium, Lagos

Nigeria won 3–2 on aggregate.

15 April 1973

Upper Volta	0–5	Zaire

Ouagadougou 22 April 1973

Zaire	4–1	Upper Volta

Stade du 20 Mai, Kinshasa

Zaire won 9–1 on aggregate.

15 April 1973

Uganda	1–0	Kenya
Mukasa 3'

Nakivubo Stadium, Kampala 28 April 1973

Kenya	1–2	Uganda
Chitechi 20'		Mukasa 30' Semwanga 50' (pen.)

Nairobi City Stadium, Nairobi

Uganda won 3–1 on aggregate.

22 April 1973

Zambia	3–1	Madagascar
Mugala 4', 58' Chitalu 65'

Dag Hammarskjöld Stadium, Ndola 5 June 1973

Madagascar	2–1	Zambia
		Chitalu 43'

Antananarivo

Zambia won 4–3 on aggregate.

Algeria	Cancelled	Libya
		Withdrew

Algeria progress, Libya withdrew.

Cameroon	Cancelled	Niger
		Withdrew

Cameroon progress, Niger withdrew.

Guinea	Cancelled	Togo
		Withdrew

Guinea progress, Togo withdrew.

Second round

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Cameroon	2–3	Zaire	2–1	0–2
Mali	3–3 (6–7 p)	Guinea	2–2	1–1
Uganda	3–2	Algeria	2–1	1–1
Tanzania	1–1 (3–4 p)	Mauritius	1–1	0–0
Ghana	0–4	Ivory Coast	0–3	0–1
Zambia	7–4	Nigeria	5–1	2–3

27 May 1973

Cameroon	2–1	Zaire

Stade Ahmadou Ahidjo, Yaoundé 14 June 1973

Zaire	2–0	Cameroon

Stade du 20 Mai, Kinshasa

Zaire won 3–2 on aggregate.

27 May 1973

Mali	2–2	Guinea

Stade Mamadou Konaté, Bamako 14 June 1973

Guinea	1–1	Mali

Penalties
	7–6

Conakry

Guinea won 7–6 on penalties after 3–3 on aggregate.

27 May 1973

Uganda	2–1	Algeria
Mukasa Obua		Gamouh 33'

Nakivubo Stadium, KampalaAttendance: 30,000 14 June 1973

Algeria	1–1	Uganda
Hadefi 52' (pen.)		Ouma 66'

5 July Stadium, AlgiersAttendance: 13,481Referee: ... (Egypt)

Uganda won 3–2 on aggregate.

27 May 1973

Tanzania	1–1	Mauritius

National Stadium, Dar es Salaam 14 June 1973

Mauritius	0–0	Tanzania

Penalties
	4–3

Port Louis

Mauritius won 4–3 on penalties after 1–1 on aggregate.

9 September 1973

Ghana	0–3	Ivory Coast
		Pokou ? ?

Accra Sports Stadium, Accra 23 September 1973

Ivory Coast	1–0	Ghana

Stade Félix Houphouët-Boigny, Abidjan

Ivory Coast won 4–0 on aggregate.

15 July 1973

Zambia	5–1	Nigeria
Chanda 31' Kaushi 58', 70' Sinyangwe 60', 75' (pen.)		Iziebige 20'

Independence Stadium, LusakaReferee: ... (Lesotho) 29 July 1973

Nigeria	3–2	Zambia
		Kaushi Chanda

Surulere Stadium, Lagos

Zambia won 7–4 on aggregate.

Qualified teams

The 8 qualified teams are:

Congo (holders)
Egypt (hosts)
Guinea
Ivory Coast
Mauritius
Uganda
Zaire
Zambia

Notes

External links

CAN 1974 details - rsssf.com

v t e Africa Cup of Nations
Editions	Sudan 1957 United Arab Republic 1959 Ethiopia 1962 Ghana 1963 Tunisia 1965 Ethiopia 1968 Sudan 1970 Cameroon 1972 Egypt 1974 Ethiopia 1976 Ghana 1978 Nigeria 1980 Libya 1982 Ivory Coast 1984 Egypt 1986 Morocco 1988 Algeria 1990 Senegal 1992 Tunisia 1994 South Africa 1996 Burkina Faso 1998 Ghana/Nigeria 2000 Mali 2002 Tunisia 2004 Egypt 2006 Ghana 2008 Angola 2010 Gabon/Equatorial Guinea 2012 South Africa 2013 Equatorial Guinea 2015 Gabon 2017 Egypt 2019 Cameroon 2021 Ivory Coast 2023 Morocco 2025 Kenya/Tanzania/Uganda 2027 TBD 2029
Qualification	1957 1959 1962 1963 1965 1968 1970 1972 1974 1976 1978 1980 1982 1984 1986 1988 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2013 2015 2017 2019 2021 2023 2025
Finals	1957 1959 1962 1963 1965 1968 1970 1972 1974 1976 1978 1980 1982 1984 1986 1988 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2013 2015 2017 2019 2021 2023
Bids	2027 2029
Squads	1957 1959 1962 1963 1965 1968 1970 1972 1974 1976 1978 1980 1982 1984 1986 1988 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2013 2015 2017 2019 2021 2023
Statistics	Finals Appearances Awards Records and statistics Hat-tricks
Miscellaneous	Balls Mascots Music Trophy
Notes The 2021 and 2023 tournaments were actually held in 2022 and 2024 respectively. There were no 1957 and 1959 qualifications as places were given by invitation only. The "finals" articles for 1959 and 1976 are about the decisive matches of final group stages. Football in Africa portal

The match between Ivory Coast and Central African Republic was abandoned after Central African Republic refused to play the second half. The match was replayed on 29 July 1973 on neutral ground in Lagos, Nigeria.

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