The initial classification (for 2004 tournaments) was made according to the performance of the associations in the previous 5 years (1998 to 2002) in club competitions held by the Confederation of African Football.
According to this system the associations selected were Tunisia (36 points), Egypt (31 points), Côte d'Ivoire (27 points), Morocco (24 points), South Africa (17 points), Algeria (17 points), Cameroon (14 points), Ghana (12 points), Angola (12 points), Nigeria (10 points), Congo DR (8 points), and Senegal (6 points).