| Tourney Name: | CAF Women's Olympic qualifying tournament |
| Year: | 2020 |
| Num Teams: | 25 |
| Confederations: | 1 |
| Matches: | 41 |
| Goals: | 100 |
| Prevseason: | 2015 |
| Nextseason: | 2024 |
The Confederation of African Football (CAF) organized the 5th edition of its qualifying tournament for African female national teams from 3 April 2019 to 10 March 2020 so as to gain entry into the 2020 Summer Olympics women's football tournament in Japan, in which CAF was allocated 1.5 places by FIFA.[1]
Zambia qualified directly as winners, while as runners-up, Cameroon entered a play-off against the second-placed team from CONMEBOL, Chile.[2]
All 54 CAF member nations were eligible to enter the qualifying competition and a total of 25 national teams were in the qualifying draw which was announced on 21 February 2019.[3] The seven teams which had the best performance at the previous edition of the qualifying competition were given a bye to the second round.
Despite competing in the qualifying competition, Equatorial Guinea were banned by FIFA from qualifying for the 2020 Summer Olympics.[4]
| width=250 | Bye to second round (7 teams) | width=500 | First round entrants (18 teams) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| valign=top |
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Qualification ties are played on a home-and-away two-legged basis. The away goals rule is applied if the aggregate score is tied after the second leg, and if still level, extra time is played. The away goals rule applied again after extra time, although the penalty shoot-out applied if scorewere still level/unchanged.
The schedule of the qualifying rounds was as follows.[5] All matches were played during the FIFA International Window.
| Round | Leg | Date |
|---|---|---|
| First round | First leg | 1 – 9 April 2019 |
| Second leg | ||
| Second round | First leg | 26 August – 3 September 2019 |
| Second leg | ||
| Third round | First leg | 30 September – 8 October 2019 |
| Second leg | ||
| Fourth round | First leg | 4 – 12 November 2019 |
| Second leg | ||
| Fifth round | First leg | 2 – 11 March 2020 |
| Second leg |
|}
Ivory Coast won on walkover due to FIFA's suspension of the Sierra Leone Football Association.----Mali won 5–3 on aggregate.----Algeria won 3–1 on aggregate.----Ethiopia won 4–2 on aggregate.----DR Congo won 3–2 on aggregate.----2–2 on aggregate. Gabon won 5–3 on penalties.----Malawi won 14–1 on aggregate.----Zambia won on walkover after Angola withdrew.[2] ----Botswana won 3–2 on aggregate.
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Ivory Coast won 3–0 on aggregate.----Nigeria won 3–0 on aggregate.----1–1 on aggregate. Cameroon won on away goals.----DR Congo won on walkover after Equatorial Guinea withdrew.[6] ----Ghana won 5–0 on aggregate.----Kenya won 5–3 on aggregate.----Zambia won on walkover after Zimbabwe failed to arrive for the second leg.----0–0 on aggregate. Botswana won 3–2 on penalties.
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1–1 on aggregate. Ivory Coast won on away goals.----Cameroon won 3–2 on aggregate.----Kenya won 1–0 on aggregate.----Zambia won 3–0 on aggregate.
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Cameroon won 2–1 on aggregate.----Zambia won 3–2 on aggregate.
The winner qualified for the 2020 Summer Olympics, while the loser entered a play-off against a team from CONMEBOL.|}
4–4 on aggregate. Zambia won on away goals.
The following team from CAF qualified for the 2020 Summer Olympic women's football tournament. Cameroon failed to qualify after they lost the play-off against the 2018 Copa América Femenina second-placed team, Chile.
| Team | Qualified on | data-sort-type="number" | Previous appearances in Summer Olympics2 |
|---|---|---|---|
| [7] | 0 (debut) |
2 Bold indicates champions for that year. Italic indicates hosts for that year.