2018 FIFA World Cup qualification – CAF third round

The third round of CAF matches for 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification was played from 7 October 2016 to 14 November 2017.

Format
A total of 20 teams which had advanced from the second round were drawn into five groups of four teams to play home-and-away round-robin matches. The winners of each group qualified for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

Seeding
The draw for the third round was held on 24 June 2016, 17:00 EET (UTC+2), at the CAF headquarters in Cairo, Egypt.

The seedings – initially released on 8 June 2016 – were based on a special edition of the FIFA World Rankings that included all matches up to 7 June 2016. This allowed the rankings to include results of the Africa Cup of Nations qualification games played between 3–5 June 2016. However, following a complaint by the Egyptian Football Association, it was reported that a further special ranking would be used. This seeding was released on 21 June. Following further complaints, the Emergency Bureau for the FIFA World Cup Qualifiers reversed the change, and restored the initial special rankings.


 * Pot 1 contained the teams ranked 1–5.
 * Pot 2 contained the teams ranked 6–10.
 * Pot 3 contained the teams ranked 11–15.
 * Pot 4 contained the teams ranked 16–20.

Each group contained one team from each of the four pots. The fixtures of each group were decided based on the respective draw position of each team, which was decided by drawing a ball with position numbers 1–4.

Note: Bolded teams qualified for the World Cup.