Equatorial Guinea qualified automatically as hosts, while the remaining seven spots were determined by qualifying rounds, which took place from November 2007 to March 2008.
The qualification was in two rounds, with each match taking place over 2 legs.
Qualification ties were played on a home-and-away two-legged basis.
If the aggregate score was tied after the second leg, the away goals rule would be applied, and if still level, the penalty shoot-out would be used to determine the winner (no extra time would be played).
Cameroon, Congo-Kinshasa, Ghana, Mali, Nigeria and South Africa had a bye to the second round.