However, in February 1987 the CAF rescinded this decision following a dispute with Algeria which protested the CAF's decision to order a replay of the first leg match of the 1987 All-Africa Games qualification against Tunisia.

CAF had made this decision following Tunisia's protest that Algeria had fielded two professional players.

Morocco was chosen in the end to host the 1988 Africa Cup of Nations replacing Algeria.

[1] [2] The 8 qualified teams are: The competition was played in two venues in Casablanca and Rabat.

If two or more teams finished level on points after completion of the group matches, the following tie-breakers were used to determine the final ranking: