# 1998 African Women's Championship

The 1998 African Women's Championship was the 3rd edition of the biennial African Women's Championship tournament organised by the Confederation of African Football (CAF). Since this edition, the tournament has been organized biennially and was hosted by a country unlike the previous two editions.
It was hosted from 17 to 31 October by Nigeria whose women's team successfully defended its title, winning it for a 3rd time after beating Ghana 2–0 in the final. Both finalists qualified for the following year's FIFA Women's World Cup in the United States.

## Qualification

A qualification round was installed in the tournament for the first time. With Nigeria qualifying automatically as hosts, the remaining seven spots were determined by a qualification round and a play-off round which took place between March and April 1998.
| Team 1 | Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
| Mozambique | 7 – 2 | Lesotho | 3–0 | 4–2 |
| South Africa | 15 – 0 | Swaziland | 9–0 | 6 – 0 |
| Egypt | 2 – 1 | Uganda | 1–1 | 1–0 |
| Ghana | 19 – 0 | Guinea | 11–0 | 8–0 |
| DR Congo | w/o | Namibia | — | — |
| Cameroon | w/o | Sierra Leone | — | — |
| Morocco | w/o | Kenya | — | — |
First leg:
Second leg:
Mozambique won 7–2 on aggregate and qualified for the main tournament.
South Africa won 15–0 on aggregate and qualified for the main tournament.
Egypt won 2–1 on aggregate and qualified for the main tournament.
Ghana won 19–0 on aggregate and qualified for the main tournament.
DR Congo won by default and qualified for the main tournament.
Cameroon won by default and qualified for the main tournament.
Morocco won by default and qualified for the main tournament.

### Qualified teams

DR Congo, Egypt and Morocco made their debuts in the tournament at this edition. Mozambique failed to arrive for the tournament despite qualifying with Lesotho as its late replacement for Mozambique, also failing to show up.
| Team | Appearance | Previous best appearance |
| Cameroon | 2nd | Runners-up (1991) |
| DR Congo | 1st | Debut |
| Egypt | 1st | Debut |
| Ghana | 3rd | Semi-finals (1995) |
| Morocco | 1st | Debut |
| Mozambique | 1st | Debut |
| Nigeria (hosts) | 3rd | Champions (1991, 1995) |
| South Africa | 2nd | Runners-up (1995) |

## Venues

| Kaduna | KadunaIjebu Odeclass=notpageimage| Locations of the 1998 African Women's Championship venues | Ijebu Ode |
| Ahmadu Bello Stadium | KadunaIjebu Odeclass=notpageimage| Locations of the 1998 African Women's Championship venues | Gateway Stadium |
| Capacity: 16,000 | KadunaIjebu Odeclass=notpageimage| Locations of the 1998 African Women's Championship venues | Capacity: 20,000 |

## Group stage
### Tiebreakers

If two or more teams in the group stage are tied on points tie-breakers are in order:
* greater number of points in matches between tied teams
* superior goal difference in matches between tied teams
* greater number of goals scored in matches between tied teams
* superior goal difference in all group matches
* greater number of goals scored in all group matches
* fair play criteria based on red and yellow cards received
* drawing of lots

### Group A

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Nigeria (H) | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 20 | 0 | +20 | 9 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 2 | DR Congo | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 7 | −3 | 4 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 3 | Morocco | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 9 | −5 | 4 | |
| 4 | Egypt | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 14 | −12 | 0 | |
* 1 2 Tied on head-to-head points. Overall goal difference: DR Congo −3, Morocco −5.

### Group B

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Ghana | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 1 | +6 | 6 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 2 | Cameroon | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 5 | −1 | 3 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 3 | South Africa | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 7 | −5 | 0 | |
Mozambique was also drawn into this group, but withdrew before playing.

## Knockout stage

| Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Final | Final |
| 27 October - Kaduna | 27 October - Kaduna |
| Nigeria | 6 |
| Nigeria | 6 | 31 October - Ijebu Ode | 31 October - Ijebu Ode |
| Cameroon | 0 | 31 October - Ijebu Ode | 31 October - Ijebu Ode |
| Cameroon | 0 | Nigeria | 2 |
| 27 October - Kaduna | 27 October - Kaduna | | Nigeria | 2 |
| 27 October - Kaduna | 27 October - Kaduna | Ghana | 0 |
| Ghana (a.e.t.) | 4 | Ghana | 0 |
| DR Congo | 1 | | |
| DR Congo | 1 | Third place play-off | Third place play-off |
| | | 30 October - Ijebu Ode | 30 October - Ijebu Ode |
| | | Cameroon | 3 (1) |
| | | DR Congo (p) | 3 (3) |

### Semi-finals

Winners qualified for the 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup in the United States.

### Final
## Awards

* 1998 African Women's Championship winners
* Nigeria 3rd title

## Statistics
### Team statistics

| Pos. | Team | Pld | W | D | L | Pts | GF | GA | GD |
| 1 | Nigeria | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 28 | 0 | +28 |
| 2 | Ghana | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 11 | 4 | +7 |
| 3 | DR Congo | 5 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 8 | 14 | −6 |
| 4 | Cameroon | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 7 | 14 | −7 |
| Eliminated in the group stage ||||||||||
| 5 | Morocco | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 9 | −5 |
| 6 | South Africa | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 7 | −5 |
| 7 | Egypt | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 14 | −12 |
| — | Mozambique | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | Total | 12$^{(1)}$ | 11 | 1$^{(2)}$ | 11 | 35 | 62 | 62 | 0 |
Team(s) rendered in italics represent(s) the host nation(s). The competition's winning team is rendered in bold. $^{(1)}$ – Total games lost not counted in total games played (total games lost = total games won) $^{(2)}$ – Total number of games drawn (tied) for all teams = Total number of games drawn (tied) ÷ 2 (both teams involved)

### Goalscorers
#### 3 goals

* Nkiru Okosieme

#### 2 goals

* Patience Avre
* Rita Nwadike

#### 1 goal

* Mercy Akide
* Stella Mbachu
* Florence Omagbemi

#### Unknown scorers

* Nigeria : 18 additional goals.
* Ghana : 11 additional goals.
* DR Congo : 8 additional goals.
* Cameroon : 7 additional goals.
* Morocco : 4 additional goals.
* South Africa : 2 additional goals.
* Egypt : 2 additional goals.