When the last round of qualifiers for the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (Wafcon) wrapped up in December, the 12 teams that qualified expected the tournament to be held in Morocco sometime this year. However, they will now face an extraordinary wait of 19 months – scheduled for 5-26 July 2025 – to avoid overlapping with this summer’s Olympics.
“This is an absurd situation,” remarked a representative from the Nigeria Football Federation, one of the teams in the tournament, in a conversation with the Guardian. “Has there ever been a scenario in any confederation worldwide where there’s a year-and-a-half gap between the end of a qualifying series and the main event? How is a coach supposed to maintain team momentum and retain the same players for the tournament?”
“It’s unacceptable that the Confederation of African Football (Caf) cannot properly organize its tournaments, which creates significant chaos for women’s national football teams across the continent.”
The president of another qualifying team noted: “During our typical Caf meeting at the last FIFA congress in Bangkok, we were informed that they were awaiting direction from FIFA before they could confirm the tournament dates. I was taken aback by this. It’s Caf’s duty to ensure tournaments are scheduled effectively, in line with the international match calendar.” Caf is expected to set the dates for its competitions and consult with FIFA well in advance to have them featured on the international match calendar.
“Caf decided to host this tournament in Morocco back in August 2022. There was ample time for them to arrange the event correctly,” the president added. “They have no valid excuse for the current predicament. The upcoming Olympic football tournament cannot be used as a valid reason for this postponement. They were aware of the Olympics and should have devised a plan to prevent the scheduling conflict.”
Aside from Nigeria and Zambia, the two teams representing the continent at the upcoming Olympics, the 10 other teams qualified for Wafcon – Morocco, South Africa, Ghana, Tunisia, Mali, Algeria, Senegal, DR Congo, Botswana, and Tanzania – will now have no competitive matches until next year. “It’s disappointing,” commented Desiree Ellis, coach of South Africa, the current Wafcon champions, during an interview with SABC Sport. “The new cycle began last year in preparation for the World Cup. If the [Wafcon] draw could occur sooner, teams would know who they are preparing for well in advance. An early draw would greatly benefit all participating nations.”
This marks the second time in four years that the tournament has faced a scheduling disruption – the 2020 Wafcon was canceled due to the pandemic, which left many in the continent’s football community extremely disappointed. The new dates for the tournament, which coincide with next year’s Women’s European Championship in Switzerland, do not resolve Caf’s scheduling issues – another Wafcon is planned for 2026, which will serve as a qualifying tournament for the 2027 World Cup in Brazil. Not unexpectedly, a host venue and schedule for that tournament are still unannounced by Caf.
“We were supposed to play [Wafcon] this year, but with teams participating in the Olympics, we must find an alternative date,” Véron Mosengo-Omba, Caf’s general secretary, stated to the BBC last month. “Scheduling is a nightmare for everyone.”
While that may be the case, Caf must accept responsibility for its internal challenges and recognize how this impacts the stability and future of Africa’s top women’s football tournament.
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