# 2016 Women's Africa Cup of Nations

The 2016 Women's Africa Cup of Nations was the 12th edition of the biennial African women's association football tournament organized by the Confederation of African Football that was held in Cameroon. Originally scheduled to be held between 8 and 22 October 2016, it was delayed to between 19 November and 3 December 2016 due to weather considerations.
On 6 August 2015, the CAF Executive Committee announced a tournament name change from the African Women's Championship to the African Women Cup of Nations, similar to the male Africa Cup of Nations. However, CAF alternated this tournament's official logo between the original name and the new name, the Women/Women's Africa Cup of Nations or Women/Women's AFCON.

## Qualification

Hosts Cameroon qualified automatically, while the remaining seven spots were determined by the qualification rounds which took place between March and April 2016.

### Qualified teams

The following eight teams qualified for the group stage. Mali protested to CAF about Equatorial Guinea fielding an ineligible player in their qualifier; CAF thus disqualified the latter and had the former replace them at the group stage.
| Team | Appearance | Previous best appearance | FIFA ranking at start of event |
| Cameroon (hosts) | 11th | Runners-up (1991, 2004, 2014) | 47 |
| Egypt | 2nd | Group stage (1998) | 80 |
| Ghana | 11th | Runners-up (1998, 2002, 2006) | 46 |
| Kenya | 1st | Debut | 132 |
| Mali | 6th | Group stage (2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010) | 92 |
| Nigeria | 12th | Champions (1991, 1995, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2010, 2014) | 37 |
| South Africa | 11th | Runners-up (1995, 2000, 2008, 2012) | 48 |
| Zimbabwe | 4th | Fourth place (2000) | 94 |

## Venues

This edition of the tournament took place in Yaoundé and Limbe.
| Yaoundé | YaoundéLimbe | Limbe |
| Stade Ahmadou Ahidjo | YaoundéLimbe | Limbe Omnisports Stadium |
| Capacity: 42,500 | YaoundéLimbe | Capacity: 20,000 |

## Squads

Each participating team's squad contained a maximum of 21 players.

## Draw

The draw for the group stage took place at the Palais Polyvalent des Sports in Yaoundé on 18 September 2016 at 16:00 WAT (UTC+1). The eight teams were drawn into two groups of four. For the draw, hosts Cameroon were seeded in position A1 and the defending champions Nigeria were seeded in position B1, with the remaining six teams seeded based on their results in the preceding three tournament editions.
| Pot 1 | Pot 2 | Pot 3 |
| Cameroon (position A1)  Nigeria (position B1) | Ghana  South Africa | Egypt  Kenya  Mali  Zimbabwe |

## Group stage

The fixtures were released on 3 November 2015. The top two teams of each group advance to the semi-finals.

### Tiebreakers

The teams are ranked according to the three points for a win system; 3 for a win, 1 for a draw and none for a loss. If tied on points, the following tiebreakers are applied in the following order:
* Number of points obtained in games between the teams concerned;
* Goal difference in games between the teams concerned;
* Goals scored in games between the teams concerned;
* If, after applying criteria 1 to 3 to several teams, two teams still have an equal ranking, criteria 1 to 3 are reapplied exclusively to the matches between the two teams in question to determine their final rankings. If this procedure does not lead to a decision, criteria 5 to 7 apply;
* Goal difference in all games;
* Goals scored in all games;
* Drawing of lots.
All times are local, WAT (UTC+1).

### Group A

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Cameroon (H) | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | +5 | 9 | Knockout stage |
| 2 | South Africa | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 1 | +4 | 4 | Knockout stage |
| 3 | Egypt | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 7 | −6 | 3 | |
| 4 | Zimbabwe | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 | −3 | 1 | |

### Group B

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Nigeria | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 11 | 1 | +10 | 7 | Knockout stage |
| 2 | Ghana | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 3 | +4 | 7 | Knockout stage |
| 3 | Mali | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 10 | −6 | 3 | |
| 4 | Kenya | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 10 | −8 | 0 | |

## Knockout stage

At this stage, if a match has its scores level at the end of 90 minutes, extra time except for the third place match and followed, if necessary, by a penalty shoot-out

### Bracket

| Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Final | Final |
| 29 November – Yaoundé | 29 November – Yaoundé |
| Cameroon | 1 |
| Cameroon | 1 | 3 December – Yaoundé | 3 December – Yaoundé |
| Ghana | 0 | 3 December – Yaoundé | 3 December – Yaoundé |
| Ghana | 0 | Cameroon | 0 |
| 29 November – Limbe | 29 November – Limbe | | Cameroon | 0 |
| 29 November – Limbe | 29 November – Limbe | Nigeria | 1 |
| Nigeria | 1 | Nigeria | 1 |
| South Africa | 0 | | |
| South Africa | 0 | Third place play-off | Third place play-off |
| | | 2 December – Yaoundé | 2 December – Yaoundé |
| | | Ghana | 1 |
| | | South Africa | 0 |

### Final
## Goalscorers
### 6 goals

* Asisat Oshoala

### 3 goals

* Elizabeth Addo
* Desire Oparanozie

### 2 goals

* Henriette Akaba
* Linda Eshun
* Samira Suleman
* Bassira Touré

### 1 goal

* Raissa Feudjio
* Christine Manie
* Genevieve Ngo
* Gabrielle Onguéné
* Salma Tarik
* Portia Boakye
* Esse Akida
* Cheris Salano
* Sebe Coulibaly
* Binta Diarra
* Faith Ikidi
* Ngozi Okobi
* Francisca Ordega
* Uchechi Sunday
* Refiloe Jane
* Andisiwe Mgcoyi
* Linda Motlhalo
* Jermaine Seoposenwe
* Nothando Vilakazi

## Awards

The following awards were given at the conclusion of this edition of the tournament:
| Award | Winner |
| Best player | Gabrielle Onguéné |
| Top scorer | Asisat Oshoala |
| Fair Play award | Cameroon |

## Gallery

* Demonstrations during the Opening Ceremony in Yaoundé
* Musical instruments
* Opening Ceremony in Yaoundé, Cameroon