The qualification phase of the 2017 Africa U-17 Cup of Nations decided the participating teams of the final tournament.
A total of eight teams played in the final tournament, hosted by Gabon.
The draws were conducted during the CAF Executive Committee meeting held on Friday, 5 February 2016 in Kigali, Rwanda.
[1][2] Note: Madagascar were originally to qualify automatically as hosts, but had their hosting rights withdrawn and were replaced by Gabon (which played in the qualifiers and were eliminated in the third round).
[3] 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).
[4] The seven winners of the third round qualified for the final tournament.
Benin advanced after Sierra Leone withdrew.
Later Congo were disqualified from the main tournament as a player failed to show up magnetic resonance imaging test, and therefore Tanzania are qualified instead.