The preliminary round of the AFCON 2025 qualifiers determined which nations advanced to the group stage. These matches were already played between 20 and 26 March 2024. Here you’ll find the draw, fixtures, and results from the AFCON 2025 qualification preliminary round.
Draw Preliminary Round
The draw for the preliminary round was held on 20 February 2024 in Cairo (Egypt). The round featured the eight lowest-ranked nations according to the FIFA rankings of 15 February 2024. At that time, these were:
- Eswatini (149)
- Liberia (152)
- South Sudan (166)
- Mauritius (177)
- Chad (181)
- São Tomé and Príncipe (191)
- Djibouti (192)
- Somalia (198)
The Seychelles (199) and Eritrea (unranked) were excluded from the qualifiers. Below you can see how the teams were divided into two pots for the draw.
| Pot 1 |
|---|
 Eswatini (149) |
 Liberia (152) |
 South Sudan (166) |
 Mauritius (177) |
| Pot 2 |
|---|
 Chad (181) |
 Sao Tomé and Príncipe (191) |
 Djibouti (192) |
 Somalië (198) |
Fixtures Preliminary Round
The first legs were played on 20 and 22 March 2024, with the return legs on 26 March 2024. Below is the full schedule and results from the AFCON 2025 qualification preliminary round.
| 20 March 2024 | ||
| Somalia | Eswatini | 0 – 3 |
| Djibouti | Liberia | 0 – 2 |
| 22 March 2024 | ||
| Chad | Mauritius | 1 – 0 |
| Sao Tomé and Príncipe | South Sudan | 1 – 1 |
| 26 March 2024 | ||
| Eswatini | Somalia | 2 – 2 |
| Liberia | Djibouti | 0 – 0 |
| South Sudan | Sao Tomé and Príncipe | 0 – 0 |
| Mauritius | Chad | 1 – 2 |
Results Preliminary Round
These are the results of the preliminary qualification round over two legs. The nations that advance to the group stage of the qualifiers are: Eswatini, Liberia, Chad, and South Sudan.
| Somalia | 2 – 5 | Eswatini |
| Djibouti | 0 – 2 | Liberia |
| Chad | 3 – 1 | Mauritius |
| South Sudan* | 1 – 1 | Sao Tomé and Príncipe |
Next Step: Group Stage Qualification
After the preliminary round comes the group stage. Here, the winners of the preliminary round join the 44 highest-ranked nations, and the real battle begins. In groups of four teams, they fight for a coveted ticket to AFCON 2025 in Morocco.