The 2018 Women's Africa Cup of Nations qualification was a women's football competition which decided the participating teams of the 2018 Women's Africa Cup of Nations.
A total of eight teams qualified to play in the final tournament, including Ghana who qualified automatically as hosts.
Apart from Ghana, the remaining 53 members of CAF were eligible to enter the qualifying competition, and a total of 24 national teams were in the qualifying draw, which was announced in early October 2017.
Equatorial Guinea were initially banned from the 2018 Africa Women Cup of Nations, but were reinstated after the ban was lifted in July 2017 at an emergency CAF committee meeting, and were included in the qualifying draw. However, FIFA banned them from qualifying for the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup, meaning they could not qualify for the World Cup regardless of their performance in the Africa Women Cup of Nations.
FIFA Women's World Rankings in September 2017 in brackets (NR=Not ranked).
Qualification ties are played on a home-and-away two-legged basis. If the aggregate score is tied after the second leg, the away goals rule is applied, and if still tied, the penalty shoot-out (no extra time) is used to determine the winner.
The schedule of the qualifying rounds is as follows.
The first round was originally scheduled for 26 February â 6 March 2018, and the second round for 2âÂÂ10 April 2018, but the dates were moved due to a clash with the CAF Women's Symposium in early March.
The seven winners of the second round qualified for the final tournament.
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Algeria won 3âÂÂ2 on aggregate.
Ethiopia won 15âÂÂ0 on aggregate.
1âÂÂ1 on aggregate. Ivory Coast won on away goals.
Mali advanced on walkover after Sierra Leone withdrew.
3âÂÂ3 on aggregate. Gambia won 5âÂÂ3 on penalties.
Congo won 3âÂÂ1 on aggregate.
Kenya won 1âÂÂ0 on aggregate.
Lesotho won 3âÂÂ1 on aggregate.
4âÂÂ4 on aggregate. Zambia won on away goals.
Zimbabwe won 4âÂÂ0 on aggregate.
Winners qualified for 2018 Africa Women Cup of Nations.
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Algeria won 6âÂÂ3 on aggregate.
2âÂÂ2 on aggregate. Mali won on away goals.
Nigeria won 7âÂÂ0 on aggregate.
Cameroon won 10âÂÂ0 on aggregate.
Equatorial Guinea won 3âÂÂ2 on aggregate. On 17 October 2018, Kenya were awarded the tie after Equatorial Guinea were disqualified for fielding an ineligible player. However, on 7 November 2018, the decision was overturned on appeal.
South Africa won 7âÂÂ0 on aggregate.
2âÂÂ2 on aggregate. Zambia won on away goals.
The following eight teams qualified for the final tournament.