Women's Africa Cup of Nations

The Women's Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON), known for sponsorship purposes as the TotalEnergies Women's Africa Cup of Nations and formerly the African Women's Championship, is a biennial international women's football tournament organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) since 1991 as the qualification for the FIFA Women's World Cup for African nations. Initially started as a home-and-away qualification competition, it got rechristened as a biennial tournament in 1998 and took on its current name as of the 2016 edition.

Not to be confused with CAF Women's Champions League.

Women’s Africa Cup of Nations
Organising bodyCAF
Founded
  • 1991 (qualification)
  • 1998 (1998) (tournament)
RegionAfrica
Number of teams12 (finals)
Current champions South Africa (1st title)
Most successful team(s) Nigeria (11 titles)
WebsiteOfficial website
2024 Women's Africa Cup of Nations
The opening ceremony for the 2016 edition.
Tournament editions

Nigeria is the most successful nation in the history of the tournament since it became full-scale in 1998, winning 11 of the 14 editions so far. Equatorial Guinea won as hosts of the 2008 and 2012 editions and incumbent champions South Africa with one title.

History

In 1991, FIFA organized the inaugural World Cup tournament for women after multiple trials which back to 1974, causing CAF to organize a qualification competition on a home-and-away basis for its nations. For its first 2 editions in 1991 and 1995, multiple nations withdrew their teams from qualification or its matches, as they weren't ready for the new developments at the time. CAF, under then-president Issa Hayatou, took the decision to rechristen the competition as a biennial tournament by installing an 8-team group stage and a knockout stage.[1]

On 6 August 2015, the CAF Executive Committee decided to change the tournament's name to the Africa Women Cup of Nations, similar to the male Africa Cup of Nations;[2] however the name on the tournament logo for the forthcoming edition following the announcement would read as the Women's Africa Cup of Nations.[lower-alpha 1] The 2020 edition was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Africa and its impact.[3][4]

On 21 July 2016, French energy and petroleum giant Total S.A., renamed TotalEnergies on 28 May 2021, secured an 8-year sponsorship package from CAF to support its competitions.[5]

Format

The inaugural editions in 1991 and 1995 were purely home-and-away qualification matches as both CAF and African nations were adapting to the new developments from FIFA and that only one qualification spot for the FIFA Women's World Cup was available to African teams. The format continued with the installation of a full-scale tournament consisting of an initial eight-team group stage in the 1998 edition and an additional qualification spot. This stood until the 2016 edition when it was established that, henceforth, the finalists from every edition of the tournament would qualify for the FIFA Women's World Cup and the losing semi-finalists qualify for the play-offs to compete with the losing semi-finalists from the AFC qualification tournament for 2 spare spots at the international tournament. During an executive committee meeting ahead of the final of the 2019 U-23 Africa Cup of Nations, CAF approved an expansion of the group stage to 12 teams or 3 groups of 4 teams.[6]

At the onset of the competition, the defending champion qualifies automatically for the following edition of the tournament and since the 1998 edition, the appointed hosts nation of an edition of the tournament automatically qualifies.

Main tournament

Between 1998 and 2018, the 8 qualified teams were drawn into two groups of 4 with each team playing the other once. The top two advance to the knockout stage and earn qualification to the FIFA Women's World Cup every other edition.

Since the 2022 edition, the 12 qualified teams are drawn into three groups of four teams each with the same format as in previous editions, but with an inclusion of the quarter-finals in the knockout stage. The top two teams and two of the best third-placed teams advanced to the knockout stage. The winners of the quarter-finals advance to the semi-finals and earn qualification to the FIFA Women's World Cup whiles the losers of the quarter-finals compete with the losers of the quarter-finals of the AFC qualification tournament for the remaining two available spots for the World Cup.[7]

Trophy and medals

Throughout the history of the Women's Africa Cup of Nations, three trophies have been awarded to the winners of the competition; the current trophy was first awarded in the 2014 edition.

Results
Ed. Year Host nation Final Semi-finals Losers
Winner Score Second place
1 1991 Home sites
Nigeria		 2–0
Cameroon
Guinea		 and
Zambia (withdrew)
4–0
2 1995 Home sites
Nigeria		 4–1
South Africa
Angola		 and
Ghana
7–1
Ed. Year Host nation Final Third place match
Winner Score Second place Third place Score Fourth place
31998  Nigeria
Nigeria		 2–0
Ghana
DR Congo		 3–3 (a.e.t.)
(3–1 p)
Cameroon
42000  South Africa
Nigeria		 2–0 (abd)
South Africa
Ghana		 6–3
Zimbabwe
52002  Nigeria
Nigeria		 2–0
Ghana
Cameroon		 3–0
South Africa
62004  South Africa
Nigeria		 5–0
Cameroon
Ghana		 0–0 (a.e.t.)
(6–5 p)
Ethiopia
72006  Nigeria
Nigeria		 1–0
Ghana
South Africa		 2–2
(5–4 p)
Cameroon
82008  Equatorial Guinea
Equatorial Guinea		 2–1
South Africa
Nigeria		 1–1
(5–4 p)
Cameroon
92010  South Africa
Nigeria		 4–2
Equatorial Guinea
South Africa		 2–0
Cameroon
102012  Equatorial Guinea
Equatorial Guinea		 4–0
South Africa
Cameroon		 1–0
Nigeria
112014  Namibia
Nigeria		 2–0
Cameroon
Ivory Coast		 1–0
South Africa
122016  Cameroon[8]
Nigeria		 1–0
Cameroon
Ghana		 1–0
South Africa
132018  Ghana
Nigeria		 0–0 (a.e.t.)
(4–3 p)
South Africa
Cameroon		 4–2
Mali
–2020 Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Africa and its impact on CAF.[3][4]
142022  Morocco[9]
South Africa		 2–1
Morocco
Zambia		 1–0
Nigeria
152024  Morocco[10] TBD TBD

Note: abd – match abandoned in the 73rd minute

Records and statistics
Further information: Women's Africa Cup of Nations records and statistics

Participating nations
Legend
Team
1991
1995		 Nigeria
1998		 South Africa
2000		 Nigeria
2002		 South Africa
2004		 Nigeria
2006		 Equatorial Guinea
2008		 South Africa
2010		 Equatorial Guinea
2012		 Namibia
2014		 Cameroon
2016		 Ghana
2018		 Morocco
2022		 Morocco
2024		 Years
 Algeria ××ו×GSGS•GS×GS•GS• 5
 Angola ×SF××GSוו××ו 2
 Botswana ×××××××××××××QF 1
 Burkina Faso ×××××××××××××GS 1
 Burundi ×××××××××××××GS 1
 Cameroon 2nd×4thGS3rd2nd4th4th4th3rd2nd2nd3rdQF 13
 Congo ×××ו•GS×××ו• 1
 DR Congo ××3rdו×GS••GS×××× 3
 Egypt ××GS•×ו×ו•GS• 2
 Equatorial Guinea ×××ו•GS1st2nd1st••GS• 5
 Ethiopia ××××GS4th×וGS•••• 3
 Ghana QFSF2nd3rd2nd3rd2ndGSGS•GS3rdGS• 12
 Guinea SFו×ו••••×•×• 1
 Ivory Coast ×××וו••GS3rd••• 2
 Kenya ×××××ו××וGS•• 1
 Mali ××××GSGSGSGSGS••GS4th• 7
 Morocco ××GSGS•×•••••••2ndQ 4
 Mozambique ××××ו×ו××ו 0
 Namibia ×××××ו•••GS••• 1
 Nigeria 1st1st1st1st1st1st1st3rd1st4th1st1st1st4th 14
 Réunion ×××GS×××××××××× 1
 Senegal ××ו••••GS•••QF 2
 Sierra Leone ×QF×××××ו×××ו 1
 South Africa ×2ndGS2nd4thGS3rd2nd3rd2nd4th4th2nd1st 13
 Tanzania ×××ו•••GS••••• 1
 Togo ×××××××××××××GS 1
 Tunisia ×××××××GS••••QF 2
 Uganda ×וGS•×××ו××GS 2
 Zambia QF×וו•×•GS•GS3rd 4
 Zimbabwe ××4thGSGSוו•GS•• 4
Total (30 Teams)467888888888812

Most tournaments hosted
HostsNationYear(s)
3 times Nigeria1998, 2002, 2006
 South Africa2000, 2004, 2010
2 times Equatorial Guinea2008, 2012
 Morocco2022, 2024
1 time Namibia2014
 Cameroon2016
 Ghana2018

See also

Notes
  1. Between 2016 and 2021, the tournament was referred to in the mass media as the Africa Women/Women's Cup of Nations.

References
  1. "Details - The Nation Archive". 10 November 2006. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 23 July 2021.
  2. "Decisions of CAF Executive Committee on 6 August 2015". CAFOnline.com. 9 August 2015. Retrieved 1 September 2022.
  3. "Decisions of CAF Executive Meeting – 30 June 2020". CAFOnline.com. 30 June 2020. Retrieved 27 April 2022. Due to challenging conditions, the 2020 edition of the Women's Africa Cup of Nations has been cancelled.
  4. Ahmadu, Samuel (30 June 2020). "2020 Africa women's cup of nations cancelled". Goal.com. Retrieved 30 June 2020.
  5. "Total to sponsor CAF competitions for the next eight years". africanews. 21 July 2016. Retrieved 18 April 2017.
  6. "CAF Holds Executive Committee Meeting ahead of CAN Total U-23 Final". CAFOnline.com. 21 November 2019. Retrieved 21 December 2022. New formats for youth and women's competitions based on 12 teams were approved.
  7. "TotalEnergies Women's Africa Cup of Nations Draw procedure explained". CAFOnline.com (Press release). 25 April 2022. Retrieved 27 April 2022.
  8. Jisi, Kila. "Cameroon To Host 2016 African Women's Championship". Lions4Life.com. Archived from the original on 22 October 2014. Retrieved 22 October 2014.
  9. "Decisions of CAF Executive Committee – 15 January 2021". CAFOnline.com. 15 January 2021. Retrieved 16 January 2021. Morocco has been designated host of the 2022 Women's Africa Cup of Nations.
  10. "Again, CAF approves Morocco as WAFCON host In 2024". Blueprint Nigeria. 10 August 2022. Retrieved 11 August 2022.
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