1978 FIFA World Cup qualification (CAF)

Listed below are the dates and results for the 1978 FIFA World Cup qualification rounds for the African zone (CAF). For an overview of the qualification rounds, see the article 1978 FIFA World Cup qualification.

1978 FIFA World Cup qualification (CAF)

Tournament details
Dates	April 1st 1976 - December 11th 1977
Teams	22[1] (from 1 confederation)
Tournament statistics
Matches played	41
Goals scored	119 (2.9 per match)
Attendance	1,197,425 (29,205 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Mahmoud El Khatib (6 Goals)
← 1974 1982 →

A total of 26 CAF teams entered the competition. The African Zone was allocated 1 place (out of 16) in the final tournament.

Format

There would be five rounds of play:

• Preliminary Round, First Round, Second Round and Third Round: In each of these rounds, the teams were paired up to play knockout matches on a home-and-away basis. The winners would advance to the next round, until there would be 3 teams left.
• Final Round: The 3 teams would play against each other on a home-and-away basis. The group winner would qualify.

Preliminary round

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Sierra Leone	6–3	Niger	5–1	1–2
Upper Volta	3–1	Mauritania	1–1	2–0

Sierra Leone	5–1	Niger
Dumbuya 37', 68' Sounomu 57', 66' Tray 70'		Adamou 17'

7 March 1976

National Stadium, Freetown, Sierra Leone

Attendance: 4,250

Referee: Aguiahr Komla Barto (Togo)

Niger	2–1	Sierra Leone
Seydou 36' Kanfideni 52'		Sango 37'

21 March 1976

Stade du 29 Juillet, Niamey, Niger

Attendance: 5,641

Referee: Thompson Shakirudeen Badru (Nigeria)

Sierra Leone won 6–3 on agg. and advanced to the first round.

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Upper Volta	1–1	Mauritania
Kaboré 44'		Coulibaly 68' (pen.)

13 March 1976

Stade Municipal, Ouagadougou, Upper Volta

Attendance: 3,323

Referee: Adamou Mamoudou (Niger)

Mauritania	0–2	Upper Volta
		Zoma 32' Ouattara 52'

28 March 1976

Stade de la Capitale, Nouakchott, Mauritania

Attendance: 1,782

Referee: Mody Ba (Mali)

Upper Volta won 3–1 on agg. and advanced to the first round.

First round

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg	3rd leg
Algeria	1–0	Libya	1–0	0–0
Morocco	2–2 (2–4 p)	Tunisia	1–1	1–1
Togo	2–1	Senegal	1–0	1–1
Ghana	3–5	Guinea	2–1	1–2	0–2
Sierra Leone	2–6	Nigeria	0–0	2–6
Congo-Brazzaville	4–2	Cameroon	2–2	2–0
Upper Volta	1–3	Ivory Coast	1–1	0–2
Egypt	5–1	Ethiopia	3–0	2–1
Zambia	5–0	Malawi	4–0	1–0
Zaire	w/o	Central African Republic	—	—
Kenya	w/o	Sudan	—	—
Uganda	w/o	Tanzania	—	—

Algeria	1–0	Libya
Betrouni 83'

1 April 1976

5 July Stadium, Algiers, Algeria

Attendance: 15,267

Referee: Jean Dubach (Switzerland)

Libya	0–0	Algeria

16 April 1976

11 June Stadium, Tripoli, Libya

Attendance: 30,000

Referee: Emilio Guruceta Muro (Spain)

Algeria won 1–0 on agg. and advanced to the second round.

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Morocco	1–1	Tunisia
Lakhal 35'		Dhiab 56'

12 December 1976

Stade Père Jégo, Casablanca, Morocco

Attendance: 13,056

Referee: Franz Wöhrer (Austria)

Tunisia	1–1 (a.e.t.)	Morocco
Labidi 34'		Tahir 55'
Penalties
	4–2

9 January 1977

Stade El Menzah, Tunis, Tunisia

Attendance: 44,500

Referee: Walter Hungerbühler (Switzerland)

The aggregate score was tied 2–2, but Tunisia won 4–2 on penalties in the second leg to advance to the second round. This was the first penalty shootout in a World Cup match.^[2]

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Togo	1–0	Senegal
Rachidou 87'

17 October 1976

Stade Général Eyadema, Lomé, Togo

Attendance: 5,173

Referee: Dwomoh (Ghana)

Senegal	1–1	Togo
Ba 63'		Afanou 58'

31 October 1976

Stade Demba Diop, Dakar, Senegal

Attendance: 7,000

Referee: Abdelali (Morocco)

Togo won 2–1 on agg. and advanced to the second round.

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Ghana	2–1	Guinea
Kassum 57' Afriyie 83'		Y. Camara 52'

10 October 1976

Accra Sports Stadium, Accra, Ghana

Attendance: 10,000

Referee: Koudou (Ivory Coast)

Guinea	2–1 (a.e.t.)	Ghana
Papa Camara 51' Keita 56'		Ansah 59'

31 October 1976

Stade du 28 Septembre, Conakry, Guinea

Attendance: 20,000

Referee: Aouissi (Algeria)

The aggregate score was tied 3–3, and a play-off on neutral ground was played to decide who would advance to the second round.

Ghana	0–2	Guinea
		Papa Camara 3' S. Sylla 31'

16 January 1977

Stade Général Eyadema, Lomé, Togo

Attendance: 13,482

Referee: N'diaye (Senegal)

Guinea advanced to the second round, via the play-off.

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Sierra Leone	0–0	Nigeria

16 October 1976

Reckrie Stadium, Freetown, Sierra Leone

Attendance: 5,173

Referee: Turkson (Ghana)

Nigeria	6–2	Sierra Leone
Odegbami 25' Atuegbu 31', 34' Usiyan 40' Emeteole 63' Awesu 77'		Dyfan 74' Sama 88' (pen.)

30 October 1976

Surulere Stadium, Lagos, Nigeria

Attendance: 25,996

Referee: Matovu (Tanzania)

Nigeria won 6–2 on agg. and advanced to the second round.

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Congo-Brazzaville	2–2	Cameroon
Mounoudzi 66' (pen.) Wamba 76'		Milla 11' Onguene 35'

17 October 1976

Stade de la Revolution, Brazzaville, Congo-Brazzaville

Attendance: 17,367

Referee: Gumboh (Zambia)

Cameroon	0–2 Awarded[3] (1–2 82')	Congo-Brazzaville
Milla 7'		Ebomoa 19' N'Domba 52'

31 October 1976

Stade Ahmadou Ahidjo, Yaoundé, Cameroon

Attendance: 26,050

Referee: Housainou N'Jai (Gambia)

Congo-Brazzaville won 4–2 on agg. and advanced to the second round.

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Upper Volta	1–1	Ivory Coast
Kaboré 70'		Bawa 36'

4 September 1976

Stade Municipal, Ouagadougou, Upper Volta

Attendance: 5,418

Referee: N'diaye (Senegal)

Ivory Coast	2–0	Upper Volta
Kouame 17' Kouman 34'

26 September 1976

Stade Félix Houphouët-Boigny, Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire

Attendance: 5,960

Referee: Diagne (Guinea)

Côte d'Ivoire won 3–1 on agg. and advanced to the second round.

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Egypt	3–0	Ethiopia
El Khatib 4', 19', 77'

29 October 1976

Nasser Stadium, Cairo, Egypt

Attendance: 20,000

Referee: Gianfranco Menegali (Italy)

Ethiopia	1–2	Egypt
Kassahun 40'		El Khatib 12', 73'

14 November 1976

Addis Ababa Stadium, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Attendance: 50,000

Referee: Wurtz (France)

Egypt won 5–1 on agg. and advanced to the second round.

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Zambia	4–0	Malawi
Chanda 4' Phiri 12', 75' Chamangwana 88' (o.g.)

9 May 1976

7 April Stadium, Lusaka, Zambia

Attendance: 16,000

Referee: Muamba Kabwe (Zaire)

Malawi	0–1	Zambia
		Kapita 48'

30 May 1976

Kamuzu Stadium, Blantyre, Malawi

Attendance: 8,230

Referee: Charles Randrianaly (Madagascar)

Zambia won 5–0 on agg. and advanced to the second round.

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Zaire	w/o	Central African Republic
		Withdrew

Central African Republic withdrew, so Zaire advanced to the second round automatically.

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Kenya	w/o	Sudan
		Withdrew

Sudan withdrew, so Kenya advanced to the second round automatically.

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Uganda	w/o	Tanzania
		Withdrew

Tanzania withdrew, so Uganda advanced to the second round automatically.

Second round

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Tunisia	3–1	Algeria	2–0	1–1
Togo	1–4	Guinea	0–2	1–2
Ivory Coast	6–3	Congo-Brazzaville	3–2	3–1
Kenya	0–1	Egypt	0–0	0–1
Uganda	3–4	Zambia	1–0	2–4 (aet)
Nigeria	w/o	Zaire	—	—

Tunisia	2–0	Algeria
Akid 56' Kaabi 73'

6 February 1977

Stade El Menzah, Tunis, Tunisia

Attendance: 39,987

Referee: Antoine Queudeville (Luxembourg)

Algeria	1–1	Tunisia
Guendouz 34'		Jebali 89'

28 February 1977

5 July stadium, Algiers, Algeria

Attendance: 80,000

Referee: Paul Bonett (Malta)

Tunisia won 3–1 on agg. and advanced to the third round.

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Togo	0–2	Guinea
		Bangoura 15' Souleymane 84'

13 February 1977

Stade Général Eyadema, Lomé, Togo

Attendance: 7,976

Referee: Felix Balloux (Ivory Coast)

Guinea	2–1	Togo
Papa Camara 36' Tollo 40' (pen.)		Ametepé 55'

27 February 1977

Stade du 28 Septembre, Conakry, Guinea

Attendance: 11,892

Referee: Tanor Dieng (Senegal)

Guinea won 4–1 on agg. and advanced to the third round.

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Ivory Coast	3–2	Congo-Brazzaville
G'Bize 10' Mamahou 20' Kouman 81'		Bahamboula 36' N'Domba 89'

13 February 1977

Municipal Stadium, Bouaké, Ivory Coast

Attendance: 3,600

Referee: Dwomoh (Ghana)

Congo-Brazzaville	1–3	Ivory Coast
Lingongo 23'		Kouman 10' Miézan 38' G'Bize 82'

27 February 1977

Stade de la Révolution, Brazzaville, Congo-Brazzaville

Attendance: 70,000

Referee: Festus Okubule (Nigeria)

Ivory Coast won 6–3 on agg. and advanced to the third round.

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Kenya	0–0	Egypt

6 February 1977

Nairobi City Stadium, Nairobi, Kenya

Attendance: 8,337

Referee: Ahmed Jama (Somalia)

Egypt	1–0	Kenya
Khalil 13'

27 February 1977

Nasser Stadium, Cairo, Egypt

Attendance: 70,000

Referee: El-Ghoul (Libya)

Egypt won 1–0 on agg. and advanced to the third round.

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Uganda	1–0	Zambia
Ouma 73'

13 February 1977

Nakivubo Stadium, Kampala, Uganda

Attendance: 11,940

Referee: Ismael Yusuf Kemal (Ethiopia)

Zambia	4–2 (a.e.t.)	Uganda
Chola 28' Chanda 34' Chitalu 85', 106'		Nasur 14' Obua 74'

27 February 1977

Dag Hammarskjöld Stadium, Ndola, Zambia

Attendance: 20,000

Referee: Gratian Matovu (Tanzania)

Zambia won 4–3 on agg. and advanced to the third round.

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Nigeria	w/o	Zaire
		Withdrew

Zaire withdrew, so Nigeria advanced to the third round automatically.

Third round

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Guinea	2–3	Tunisia	1–0	1–3
Nigeria	6–2	Ivory Coast	4–0	2–2
Egypt	2–0	Zambia	2–0	0–0

Guinea	1–0	Tunisia
I. Sylla 77'

5 June 1977

Stade du 28 Septembre, Conakry, Guinea

Attendance: 25,000

Referee: Mohamed Larache (Morocco)

Tunisia	3–1	Guinea
Liman 9' Lahzami 59' Khouini 62'		A. Sylla 11'

19 June 1977

Stade El Menzah, Tunis, Tunisia

Attendance: 35,248

Referee: Hussein Fahmy Bahig (Egypt)

Tunisia won 3–2 on agg. and advanced to the Final Round.

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Nigeria	4–0	Ivory Coast
Usiyan 7', 30' Iwelumo 18' Ojebode 56' (pen.)

10 July 1977

Surulere Stadium, Lagos, Nigeria

Attendance: 29,815

Referee: Nyirenda Chayu (Zambia)

Ivory Coast	2–2	Nigeria
Mamahou 37', 58'		Odegbami 74' Amiesimaka 89'

25 July 1977

Municipal Stadium, Bouaké, Ivory Coast

Attendance: 2,040

Referee: Youssou N'Diaye (Senegal)

Nigeria won 6–2 on agg. and advanced to the Final Round.

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Egypt	2–0	Zambia
Gaafar 29' Hammam 49'

15 July 1977

Nasser Stadium, Cairo, Egypt

Attendance: 35,746

Referee: Alberto Michelotti (Italy)

Zambia	0–0	Egypt

31 July 1977

7 April Stadium, Lusaka, Zambia

Attendance: 30,165

Referee: Gordon (Scotland)

Egypt won 2–0 on agg. and advanced to the Final Round.

Final round

Rank	Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
1	Tunisia	5	4	2	1	1	7	4	+3
2	Egypt	4	4	2	0	2	7	11	−4
3	Nigeria	3	4	1	1	2	5	4	+1

Tunisia	0–0	Nigeria

25 September 1977

Stade El Menzah, Tunis

Attendance: 38,229

Referee: John Carpenter (Republic of Ireland)

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Nigeria	4–0	Egypt
Chukwu 24' Odegbami 54', 67' N'Wadioha 74'

8 October 1977

Surulere Stadium, Lagos

Attendance: 25,932

Referee: César da Luz Dias Correia (Portugal)

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Egypt	3–1	Nigeria
Abdou 11', 27' Mokhtar 50'		Iwelumo 75'

21 October 1977

Nasser Stadium, Cairo

Attendance: 90,000

Referee: Emmanuel Platopoulos (Greece)

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Nigeria	0–1	Tunisia
		Odiye 61' (o.g.)

12 November 1977

Surulere Stadium, Lagos

Attendance: 80,000

Referee: Ernst Dörflinger (Switzerland)

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Egypt	3–2	Tunisia
Gaafar 26' (pen.) Abdou 53' El Khatib 83'		Ben Aziza 80' Akid 87'

25 November 1977

Nasser Stadium, Cairo

Attendance: 85,000

Referee: Hilmi Ok (Turkey)

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Tunisia	4–1	Egypt
Akid 15' Lahzami 42' Ben Aziza 65' Labidi 75'		Abdel Baki 80'

11 December 1977

Stade El Menzah, Tunis

Attendance: 42,850

Referee: Gianfranco Menegali (Italy)

Tunisia qualified.

Qualified teams

Team	Qualified as	Qualified on	Previous appearances in FIFA World Cup1
Tunisia	Final Round winners	11 December 1977	0 (debut)

¹ Bold indicates champions for that year. Italic indicates hosts for that year.

Goalscorers

6 goals

• Mahmoud El Khatib

4 goals

• Segun Odegbami

3 goals

• Kobenan Kouman
• Jérôme Lèbre Mamahou
• Mostafa Abdou
• Papa Camara
• Thompson Usiyan
• Mohamed Akid

2 goals

• Roger Milla
• Jean-Jacques N'Doumba
• Leon Goua G'Bize
• Farouk Gaafar
• Alloysius Atuegbu
• Godwin Iwelumo
• Kama Dumbuya
• Wasieu Sounomu
• Abderraouf Ben Aziza
• Khemais Labidi
• Témime Lahzami
• Joseph Kaboré
• Bernard Chanda
• Godfrey Chitalu
• Willie Phiri

1 goal

• Omar Betrouni
• Mahmoud Guendouz
• Jean Manga Onguéné
• Jonas Bahamboula
• Daniel Ebomoa
• Pierre Lingongo
• Joseph Mounoudzi
• Joseph Wamba
• Gaston Bawa
• Lucien Kouassi Kouame
• Pascal Miézan
• Ahmed Abdel Baki
• Maher Hammam
• Ossama Khalil
• Mokhtar Mokhtar
• Tekalinge Kassahun
• Opoku Afriyle
• Ofei Ansah
• Ibrahim Kassum
• Ousmane Badara Bangoura
• Youssuf Camara
• Mamadou Aliou Keita
• Chérif Souleymane
• Ali Sylla
• Ismael Sylla
• Seydouba Sylla
• Ousmane Thiam Tollo
• Gagny Coulibaly
• Abdelghani Lakhal
• Mustapha Tahir
• Boukari Adamou
• Moussa Kanfideni
• Sanda Seydou
• Adokie Amiesimaka
• Kunle Awesu
• Christian Chukwu
• Kelechi Emeteole
• Johnny N'Wadioha
• Samuel Ojebode
• Abdoulaye Ba
• Ismail Dyfan
• Mohammed Sama
• William Sango
• Samuel Tray
• Anani Afanou
• Tabania Ametepé
• Alirou Rachidou
• Tarak Dhiab
• Amor Jebali
• Néjib Liman
• Ali Kaabi
• Moncef Khouini
• Abdulla Nasur
• Denis Obua
• Polly Ouma
• Joseph Ouattara
• Kouligo Zoma
• Alex Chola
• Obby Kapita

1 own goal

• Jack Chamangwana (playing against Zambia)
• Godwin Odiye (playing against Tunisia)

See also

• 1978 FIFA World Cup qualification
• 1978 FIFA World Cup qualification (UEFA)
• 1978 FIFA World Cup qualification (CONCACAF)
• 1978 FIFA World Cup qualification (CONMEBOL)
• 1978 FIFA World Cup qualification (AFC and OFC)