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.
Zambia qualified directly as winners, while as runners-up, Cameroon entered a play-off against the second-placed team from CONMEBOL, Chile.
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. 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.
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. All matches were played during the FIFA International Window.
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<section begin=First round />
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Ivory Coast won on walkover due to FIFA's suspension of the Sierra Leone Football Association.
Mali won 5âÂÂ3 on aggregate.
Algeria won 3âÂÂ1 on aggregate.
Ethiopia won 4âÂÂ2 on aggregate.
DR Congo won 3âÂÂ2 on aggregate.
2âÂÂ2 on aggregate. Gabon won 5âÂÂ3 on penalties.
Malawi won 14âÂÂ1 on aggregate.
Zambia won on walkover after Angola withdrew.
Botswana won 3âÂÂ2 on aggregate.
<section begin=Second round />
<section end=Second round />
Ivory Coast won 3âÂÂ0 on aggregate.
Nigeria won 3âÂÂ0 on aggregate.
1âÂÂ1 on aggregate. Cameroon won on away goals.
DR Congo won on walkover after Equatorial Guinea withdrew.
Ghana won 5âÂÂ0 on aggregate.
Kenya won 5âÂÂ3 on aggregate.
Zambia won on walkover after Zimbabwe failed to arrive for the second leg.
0âÂÂ0 on aggregate. Botswana won 3âÂÂ2 on penalties.
<section begin=Third round />
<section end=Third round />
1âÂÂ1 on aggregate. Ivory Coast won on away goals.
Cameroon won 3âÂÂ2 on aggregate.
Kenya won 1âÂÂ0 on aggregate.
Zambia won 3âÂÂ0 on aggregate.
<section begin=Fourth round />
<section end=Fourth round />
Cameroon won 2âÂÂ1 on aggregate.
Zambia won 3âÂÂ2 on aggregate.
The winner qualified for the 2020 Summer Olympics, while the loser entered a play-off against a team from CONMEBOL. <section begin=Fifth round />
<section end=Fifth round />
4âÂÂ4 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.