By Eniola Olatunji reporting for Patmos Media Line
NIGERIA’s SUPER Falcon is the team to beat as the 14th edition of the Total Energy Women’s African Cup of Nations WAFCON takes off in Morocco on Sunday 26th July 2026.
Cover photo is Africa’s Champions, Super Falcons at the last tournament.
16 teams have been drawn into four groups. Group A has hosts Morocco, Algeria, Senegal and Kenya. Group B has South Africa, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso and Tanzania. Nigeria leads Group C with Zambia, Egypt and Malawi while in group D we have Ghana, Cameroon, Mali and Cape Verde.
Confederation of African football CAF who are organising body on Thursday announced that tickets for the gate entrances are now available on their site:Cafonline.com
The tournament opens on Sunday at 9pm with Algeria facing Senegal while hosts Morocco will meet Kenya at 9pm. On Monday South Africa will play against Tanzania at 6pm and at 9pm it will be Ivory Coast versus Burkina Faso.
Nigeria will open her title defence against Malawi at 9pm on Tuesday. The dread of the Supet Falcons have gripped all the teams at the tournament. Malawi Captain has begged Nigeria not to disgrace them as “we have come to learn football from the all time African female football champions. They should not bang in the goals, not 5 or 6-0 just 1-0 is okay for that gives them the 3 needed points”. Nigeria’s captain, Ajibade Rasheedat popular as Mummy G. O. off field and Rash on field has not accepted the plea.
The tournament was played in 1991 and 1995 but CAF regarded those as experimental. The 1st WAFCON was played at the Mooshood Abiola Stadium in Abeokuta in 1998 and yours sincerely was lead Commentator for host Radio Station Ogun State Broadcasting Corporation OGBC with Toyin Gbadebo as my OB Manager. Veteran Journalist and now Commissioner for Youth and Sports for Akwa Ibom State, Obong Hopeful, Paul Sports Bassey was Media Coordinator for CAF. 28 years down the lane now.
Of the previous 13 editions, Nigeria has won the title a reputable 10 times, won Bronze in 2008 and placed 4th twice in 2012 and in 2022. Nigeria is the defending champions having piped Morocco 3-2 at the last grand finale in Morocco meaning Morocco is hosting back to back.
Equatorial Guinea that won twice in 2008 and 2012 were bad defending champions as they didn’t even qualify for the 2014 edition and have gone into sleep mode since then. They are not in the 2026 edition.
South Africa won the title in 2022. The Bayana Bayana meaning Girls are the potential hopefuls to the title. They won Silver 4 times, Bronze twice and placed 4th four times.
Nigeria and South Africa have now appeared in all the 14 editions of WAFCON. Nigeria has the record of most finishes at top 4 making it 13 times. South Africa has most 2nd place finishes – 4 times; Ghana has most 3rd place finishes- 4 times while Cameroon has most 3rd/4th place finishes 7 times. You can make your calculations for teams to expect at the Semis already.
WAFU from West Africa has won the the title 10 times through Nigeria; UNIFFAC (Central Africa) won twice through Equatorial Guinea; COSAFA won once through South Africa; UNAFA which is the North African body is yet to have a title and CECAFA which is the body for East Africa is also yet to have a title.
When you measure top 4 position region by region, WAFU has a dominant 22 times; UNIFFAC has 14; COSAFA 13; UNAFA -2 and CECAF once. Lo! WAFU has the top 2 -13 times; UNIFFAC 6 times, COSAFA 5 times, UNIFA 2 times through Morocco and CECAF has never made top 2 finishes.
Host advantage is what many football pundits are watchful over especially Morocco that wants to win every tournament in Africa anyhow. When Nigeria came from behind to beat them 3-2 at the last finals Morocco protested to CAF to ban the Ref. CAF suspended the Ref. The imbroglio at the last AFCON fir men is still refreshing where CAF awarded Morocco the title at a Press conference. The matter is still with the Court for Sports Abitration (CAS). Players and other sports stake holders complained of many unsavoury experiences in the hands of Morocco.
CAF on Wednesday 22nd July announced that prize money for the new WAFCON champions will be $2m double what Super Falcons received at the last tournament. It’s wonderful to know that Runners up will take home $750k and the question is why not $1.5m as the gap is so much.
#CAF #2026WAFCON #WAFU
#UNIFFAC #COSAFA #UNIAFA
#CECAFA #NFF.
—
