With a total of 50 countries entered from the African Confederation and 5 places at the finals available, this is one of the simpler preliminary competitions.

The 50 countries have been split into 5 pools each containing 10 teams. Each pool consist of 5 seeded teams (Shown in CAPITALS) and 5 unseeded teams drawn to complete in a play off on a home and away basis. The first matches, with the unseeded teams at home, will take place between 7th and 9th April 2000, with the return matches scheduled for between the 21st and 23rd April 2000.

Once these matches have all been completed, the winning countries will go into a draw to create five groups of five teams who will play each other home and away.

The winners of these five groups will qualify for the final competition in Korea/Japan