2014 African Women's Championship
The 2014 African Women's Championship, the 11th edition of the tournament, was held in Namibia. This tournament, organized by the Confederation of African Football, was also a qualification tournament for the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup, with top three qualifying for the finals in Canada. It was played on 11–25 October 2014. The tournament marked the first participation of Namibia in the African championship. Also for the first time the defending champions, Equatorial Guinea, were not taking part after failing to win their last qualifying round match. Nigeria defeated Cameroon 2–0 in the  final to win their ninth title. Host. Namibia were awarded the hosting rights in October 2011. It is the first time they will appear in the final tournament. There has been some criticism of the slow preparation and campaigning for the event. The national women's league will be suspended this year because all money is used for hosting the continental event. Venues. The final tournament matches were held in two stadium venues located in Windhoek: Qualification. A record 25 teams applied for the 2014 African Women's Championship. The top three teams from the 2012 tournament, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea  and South Africa received a bye to the second round. The preliminary round was held on 13–15 February (first leg) and 28 February–2 March 2014 (second leg), while the final qualifying round was held on 23–25 May (first leg) and 6–8 June (second leg). Format. Eight teams were divided in two groups and play a round-robin tournament. The top two placed teams advanced to the semifinals. The losers of those semifinals played in the third place match, while the winners faced off in the final. The top three placed teams qualified for the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup . Match officials. 12 referees and 15 assistants were announced on 5 October 2014. Group stage. The draw was held on 19 July 2014 at 19:00 local time at Windhoek, Namibia. All times are local (). The teams are ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a tie, 0 points for a loss). If tied on points, tiebreakers are applied in the following order: Group A. <onlyinclude></onlyinclude> Group B. <onlyinclude></onlyinclude> Knockout stage. In the knockout stage, if a match is level at the end of normal playing time, extra time is played (two  periods of 15 minutes each) and followed, if necessary, by kicks from the penalty mark to determine the winner, except for the third place match where no extra time is played. <onlyinclude></onlyinclude> Semifinals. Winners qualified for 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup. Third place match. Winner qualified for 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup. Statistics. Awards. The following awards were given at the conclusion of the tournament.