# 2023 WAFU Zone A Women's Cup

The 2023 WAFU Zone A Women's Cup was the second edition of the WAFU Zone A Women's Cup, an international women's football tournament contested by the women's national association football teams of West Africa zone A organized by the West African Football Union (WAFU). The tournament was hosted by Cape Verde and took place from 20 to 29 January 2023; it was the first major WAFU A tournament to be hosted in Cape Verde. The opening match was contested between Cape Verde and Guinea-Bissau at Estádio Marcelo Leitão, Espargos, Sal Island on 20 January 2023. The final took place on 29 January 2023 at Estádio Marcelo Leitão, Espargos.
Senegal is the defending champions, having won the previous tournament. and they successfully defended their title beating hosts Cape Verde 1–0 with a penalty kick scored by Senegalese captain Korka Fall.

## Participating nations

The WAFU Zone A initially announced on 5 January 2023 that 9 countries would participate in the tournament, a record number with all WAFU Zone A members association sending teams. Mauritania marked their debut in the tournament after its absence from the 2020 edition.
On 10 January 2022, Liberia confirmed its non-participation in the tournament citing a lack of funding from the government, thereby reducing the number of participating countries to 8. Two days prior to the tournament start Mali's sports minister confirmed that its country won't be able to participate in the 2nd edition of the tournament citing funding issues as the main reason for their withdrawal.
| Team | Appearance | Previous best performance | FIFA ranking December 2022 |
| Cape Verde | 2nd | Fourth Place (2020) | NR |
| Gambia | 2nd | Group Stage (2020) | 123 |
| Guinea | 2nd | Group Stage (2020) | 136 |
| Guinea-Bissau | 2nd | Group Stage (2020) | 171 |
| Mauritania | 1st | — | NR |
| Senegal | 2nd | Champions (2020) | 84 |
| Sierra Leone | 2nd | Group Stage (2020) | 138 |

### Did not enter

* Liberia (W; 164)
* Mali (W; 82)

## Venues

After the successful hosting of the 2021 CAF Women's Champions League WAFU A Qualifiers in Mindelo and the 2023 WAFU Zone A Schools Football Championship in Santa Cruz, the Cape Verdean Football Federation announced that this time it would host the tournament in Sal. the FCF selected the biggest stadium in Sal to host the tournament.
| Sal Island | Sal2023 WAFU Zone A Women's Cup (Cape Verde) |
| Estádio Marcelo Leitão | Sal2023 WAFU Zone A Women's Cup (Cape Verde) |
| Capacity: 8,000 | Sal2023 WAFU Zone A Women's Cup (Cape Verde) |

## Officials

these officials were appointed by WAFU A to officiate the tournament.

### Referees

* Suavis Iratunga
* Ngum Fatou
* Sylvina Garnett Welma
* Yacine Samassa
* Aissata Diarra
* Maimouna Danfakha

### Assistant referees

* Evandra Furtado da Costa Lima
* Jainaba Manneh
* Hannah Moses
* Houleye Diba
* Mariam Coulibaly
* Tabara Mbodji
* Precious Amara

## Draw

The draw for the final tournament was held on 19 January 2023, on the island of Sal. the 7 teams were drawn into two groups one with four teams with the other group with three teams.
the seven teams were allocated into two pots based on the FIFA Women's World Rankings of 9 December 2022. Pot 1 contained hosts Cape Verde (who were automatically assigned to position A1) and Senegal (who were automatically assigned to position B1). Pot 2 contained the rest of the teams.
From the December 2022 FIFA World Rankings :
| Pot 1 | Pot 2 |
| Cape Verde (NR) (hosts)  Senegal (84) (title holders) | Gambia (123)  Guinea (136)  Sierra Leone (138)  Guinea-Bissau (171)  Mauritania (NR) |

## Squads

Each team was required by WAFU-UFOA to name a squad of a minimum of 20 players (three of whom must be goalkeepers).

## Group stage

Teams in each group will play one another in a round-robin, with the top two teams advancing to the knockout stage.
Tiebreakers
Teams are ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss), and if tied on points, the following tiebreaking criteria are applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings (Regulations Article 71):
* Points in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
* Goal difference in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
* Goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
* If more than two teams are tied, and after applying all head-to-head criteria above, a subset of teams are still tied, all head-to-head criteria above are reapplied exclusively to this subset of teams;
* Goal difference in all group matches;
* Goals scored in all group matches;
* Drawing of lots.
All times are in CVT (UTC-1).

### Group A

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Cape Verde (H) | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 0 | +10 | 6 | Knockout stage |
| 2 | Guinea-Bissau | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | −3 | 3 | Knockout stage |
| 3 | Mauritania | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 7 | −7 | 0 | |

### Group B

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Senegal | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 1 | +11 | 9 | Knockout stage |
| 2 | Gambia | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 5 | +1 | 6 | Knockout stage |
| 3 | Guinea | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 5 | −4 | 3 | |
| 4 | Sierra Leone | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 9 | −8 | 0 | |

## Knockout stage

| Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Final | Final |
| 27 January – Estádio Marcelo Leitão | 27 January – Estádio Marcelo Leitão |
| Cape Verde | 2 |
| Cape Verde | 2 | 29 January – Estádio Marcelo Leitão | 29 January – Estádio Marcelo Leitão |
| Gambia | 1 | 29 January – Estádio Marcelo Leitão | 29 January – Estádio Marcelo Leitão |
| Gambia | 1 | Cape Verde | 0 |
| 27 January – Estádio Marcelo Leitão | 27 January – Estádio Marcelo Leitão | | Cape Verde | 0 |
| 27 January – Estádio Marcelo Leitão | 27 January – Estádio Marcelo Leitão | Senegal | 1 |
| Senegal | 4 | Senegal | 1 |
| Guinea-Bissau | 0 | | |
| Guinea-Bissau | 0 | Third Place | Third Place |
| | | 29 January – Estádio Marcelo Leitão | 29 January – Estádio Marcelo Leitão |
| | | Gambia | 3 |
| | | Guinea-Bissau | 2 |

### Final
## Statistics
### Goalscorers

There were 44 goals scored in 13 matches, for an average of 3.38 goals per match.
9 goals
* Hapsatou Malado Diallo
7 goals
* Ivânia Moreira
* Catherine Jatta
3 goals
* Nguenar Ndiaye
* Korka Fall
2 goals
* Ola Buwaro
* Jeanne Niang
1 goal
* Joseane Fernandes
* Sasha Whannon
* Kleydiana Borges
* Varsénia da Luz
* Maísa Tavares Cardoso
* Kaddy Jarju
* Fatoumata Dédé Diallo
* Luísa Paulo Mendes
* Suraia da Silva
* Júlia Mendes
* Matilda Kabba

### Discipline

A player was automatically suspended for the next match for the following offences:
* Receiving a red card (red card suspensions may be extended for serious offences)
* Receiving two yellow cards in two matches; yellow cards expire after the completion of the quarter-finals (yellow card suspensions are not carried forward to any other future international matches)
The following suspensions were served during the tournament:
| Player | Offence(s) | Suspension |
| Funmilayo Adiara Adebisi | in Group A vs Guinea-Bissau (matchday 2; 22 January) | Group A vs Cape Verde (matchday 3; 24 January) |

## Final ranking

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Final result |
| 1 | Senegal | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 17 | 1 | +16 | 15 | Champions |
| 2 | Cape Verde | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 12 | 2 | +10 | 9 | Runners-up |
| 3 | Gambia | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 10 | 9 | +1 | 9 | Third place |
| 4 | Guinea-Bissau | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 11 | −8 | 3 | Fourth place |
| 5 | Guinea | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 5 | −4 | 3 | Eliminated in group stage |
| 6 | Mauritania | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 7 | −7 | 0 | Eliminated in group stage |
| 7 | Sierra Leone | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 9 | −8 | 0 | Eliminated in group stage |

## Controversies
### Liberia withdrawal

Liberia's withdrawal from the competition after initially confirming its participation sparked high criticism among Liberians at home, especially Liberia women's National team players who showed a huge disappointment in the government and in the Liberian Football Association. Liberia's women's team's former captain Bantu Jestina Wilson stated that she felt frustrated and disappointed and that there was no lack of funding because the Ministry of youth and sports never supported the team or the women's football in the first place.