The Confederation of African Football was allocated five qualifying berths for the 2002 FIFA World Cup.
51 teams entered the qualification process, however Burundi withdrew before the draw was made. In addition, Niger and Comoros did not participate in the qualification process. Guinea was excluded from the competition during the Final Round for government interference with its national association.
First Round: The 50 teams were divided into 5 pools of 10 teams each. In each pool, the 10 teams were paired up to play knockout matches on a home-and-away basis. The winners advanced to the Final Round.
Final Round: The 25 teams were divided into 5 groups of 5 teams each. The teams played against each other on a home-and-away basis. The group winners qualified.
Guinea were excluded on March 19, 2001 after the Guinean sports minister had failed to meet a third FIFA deadline to reinstall the Guinean FA functionaries. Their match results were annulled