This page details the process of qualifying for the III Outernatia Cup of Nations. This time, all OCAF members entered the competition, and the OCAF organized qualification rounds to reduce the field to 24 teams for the final tournament.
Kimmystan qualified automatically as the host country, leaving 23 spots open for the remaining 12 countries.
Format
55 OCAF member associations were set to compete in the qualifying competition, with the hosts (Kimmystan) qualifying directly to the finals tournament. The other 54 teams are drawn into nine groups of six teams. The group winners, runners-up, and the best third-placed team (with the results against the sixth-placed team discarded) directly qualify to the finals. The eight remaining third-placed teams contest two-legged play-offs to determine the last four qualifiers for the finals.
Qualifying tournament
Seeding
The teams were divided into 6 points of 9 teams each. One team from each pot was then allocated to one of the nine groups.
Legend
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Group winners,runners-up and the best third placed team directly qualify for the finals
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Third-placed teams advance to the play-offs
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Groups
Group A
Group B
Group C
Group D
Group E
Group F
Group G
Group H
Group I
Play-offs
Ranking of third-placed teams
The highest ranked third-placed team from the groups directly qualified for the tournament, while the remainder entered the play-offs.
Seeding
The draw for the play-offs was held on 26 August 2016, 08:20 CEST, at the OCAF headquarters. The teams were seeded for the play-off draw according to the OCAF national team coefficient rankings updated after the completion of the qualifying group stage. The four top-ranked teams were seeded and paired with the four unseeded teams.
The seedings were as follows:
Matches
The schedule of the play-offs was published by OCAF within one hour of the draw. The eight matches were spread over the three days, with the first legs on 27 August 2016 and the second legs on 29 August 2016. The kickoff times were 18:00 or 20:45 CET (local times are in parentheses).
See also