Women's Africa Cup of Nations

The Women's Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON), known for sponsorship purposes as the TotalEnergies Women's Africa Cup of Nations and formerly the African Women's Championship, is a biennial international women's football tournament organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) since 1991 as the qualification for the FIFA Women's World Cup for African nations. Initially started as a home-and-away qualification competition, it got rechristened as a biennial tournament in 1998 and took on its current name as of the 2016 edition.

Nigeria is the most successful nation in the history of the tournament since it became full-scale in 1998, winning 11 of the 14 editions so far. Equatorial Guinea won as hosts of the 2008 and 2012 editions and incumbent champions South Africa with one title.

History
In 1991, FIFA organized the inaugural World Cup tournament for women after multiple trials dating back to 1974, causing CAF to organize a qualification competition on a home-and-away basis for its nations. For its first 2 editions in 1991 and 1995, multiple nations withdrew their teams from qualification or its matches, as they weren't ready for the new developments at the time. CAF, under then-president Issa Hayatou, took the decision to rechristen the competition as a biennial tournament by installing an 8-team group stage and a knockout stage.

On 6 August 2015, the CAF Executive Committee decided to change the tournament's name to the Africa Women Cup of Nations, similar to the male Africa Cup of Nations; however the name on the tournament logo for the forthcoming edition following the announcement would read as the Women's Africa Cup of Nations. The 2020 edition was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Africa and its impact.

On 21 July 2016, French energy and petroleum giant TotalEnergies (formerly Total S.A.) secured an 8-year sponsorship package from CAF to support its competitions.

On 6 July 2023, CAF revealed the draw for qualification schedule and procedures for the 2024 edition at the Mohammed VI Complex in Rabat, Morocco and pegged the commencement date at 10 August.

Format
The inaugural editions in 1991 and 1995 were purely home-and-away qualification matches as both CAF and African nations were adapting to the new developments from FIFA and that only one qualification spot for the FIFA Women's World Cup was available to African teams. The format continued with the installation of a full-scale tournament consisting of an initial eight-team group stage in the 1998 edition and an additional qualification spot. This stood until the 2016 edition when it was established that, henceforth, the finalists from every edition of the tournament would qualify for the FIFA Women's World Cup and the losing semi-finalists qualify for the play-offs to compete with the losing semi-finalists from the AFC qualification tournament for 2 spare spots at the international tournament. During an executive committee meeting ahead of the final of the 2019 U-23 Africa Cup of Nations, CAF approved an expansion of the group stage to 12 teams or 3 groups of 4 teams.

At the onset of the competition, the defending champion qualifies automatically for the following edition of the tournament and since the 1998 edition, the appointed hosts nation of an edition of the tournament automatically qualifies.

Main tournament
Between 1998 and 2018, the 8 qualified teams were drawn into two groups of 4 with each team playing the other once. The top two advance to the knockout stage and earn qualification to the FIFA Women's World Cup every other edition.

Since the 2022 edition, the 12 qualified teams are drawn into three groups of four teams each with the same format as in previous editions, but with an inclusion of the quarter-finals in the knockout stage. The top two teams and two of the best third-placed teams advanced to the knockout stage. The winners of the quarter-finals advance to the semi-finals and earn qualification to the FIFA Women's World Cup whiles the losers of the quarter-finals compete with the losers of the quarter-finals of the AFC qualification tournament for the remaining two available spots for the World Cup (commonly referred to by CAF as the "Repechage" stage).

Trophy and medals
Throughout the history of the Women's Africa Cup of Nations, three trophies have been awarded to the winners of the competition; the current trophy was first awarded in the 2014 edition.

Results

Note: abd – match abandoned at the 73rd minute

Summary

* hosts
** losing semi-finals

Records and statistics

Participating nations
Legend

 – Champions
 – Runners-up
 – Third place
 – Fourth place
 – Semi-finals
QF – Quarter-finals
GS – Group stage

q – Qualified
 – Did not qualify
 – Did not enter
 – Withdrew before qualification
 — Withdrew/Disqualified after qualification
 – Hosts

Most tournament editions hosted

See also

 FIFA Women's World Cup
 CAF Women's Champions League

Notes

References

External links

 
 Tournament records and statistics at the RSSSF

Women's Africa Cup of Nations
Confederation of African Football competitions for women's national teams
Recurring sporting events established in 1991
1991 establishments in Africa
African championships