These are the summaries of the matches in the qualifying rounds for the group stage of the 2011 CAF Confederation Cup.
The schedule for the tournament was released in October 2010,[1] and the draw for the first three rounds was held in Cairo on 20 December 2010.[2] The draw for the play-off round (together with the draw for the group stage) was held in Cairo on 15 May 2010.[3]
Qualification ties were decided over two legs, with aggregate goals used to determine the winner. If the sides were level on aggregate after the second leg, the away goals rule applied, and if still level, the tie proceeded directly to a penalty shootout (no extra time is played).[4]
Preliminary round
This was a knock-out stage of the 40 teams that did not receive byes to the first round.
First legs: 28–30 January 2011; Second legs: 11–13 and 25–27 February 2011.[5]
Al-Khartoum advanced to the second round after Al-Nasr withdrew. Tie was scheduled to be played over one leg due to the political situation in Libya,[7] but match did not take place.
Note: First leg originally played on 20 March 2011 (kick-off 15:00 UTC+02:00), but abandoned after half-time with score 0–0 due to torrential rain, and replayed the next day.[8]
USFA advanced to the second round after Africa Sports withdrew.[9] Tie was scheduled to be played over one leg (at Accra, Ghana on 3 April 2011)[10] due to the political situation in Côte d'Ivoire.[7] but match did not take place.
Kaduna United advanced to the play-off round after being awarded the tie by CAF, as Etoile Sahel refused to travel to Nigeria for the first leg due to security concerns arising from rioting in the country following the 2011 Nigerian presidential election.[11] First leg was scheduled to be played on 23 April 2011 in Abeokuta (moved from Kaduna by Kaduna United due to the rioting), but Etoile Sahel did not travel and asked the CAF for a postponement.[12]
This was a knock-out stage of 16 teams: the eight teams that advanced from the second round, and the eight teams that were eliminated in the CAF Champions League second round.[4] In each tie, a winner from the Confederation Cup second round would play against a loser from the Champions League second round, with the Confederation Cup winner hosting the second leg at home. Moreover, the top-seeded Confederation Cup winner and the top-seeded Champions League loser would not be drawn against each other.[13] Winners advanced to the group stage.