2022 Women's Africa Cup of Nations

2022 Women's Africa Cup of Nations

كأس الأمم الإفريقية للسيدات 2022 Coupe d'Afrique des nations féminine 2022
Official logo
Tournament details
Host country	Morocco
Dates	2–23 July
Teams	12
Venue(s)	3 (in 2 host cities)
Final positions
Champions	South Africa (1st title)
Runners-up	Morocco
Third place	Zambia
Fourth place	Nigeria
Tournament statistics
Matches played	28
Goals scored	63 (2.25 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Ghizlane Chebbak Rasheedat Ajibade Hildah Magaia (3 goals each)
Best player(s)	Ghizlane Chebbak
Best goalkeeper	Andile Dlamini
Fair play award	South Africa
← 2020 2018 2024 →

The 2022 Women's Africa Cup of Nations (Arabic: كأس الأمم الإفريقية للسيدات 2022, French: Coupe d'Afrique des nations féminine 2022), (also referred to as WAFCON 2022) officially known as the 2022 TotalEnergies Women's Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship purposes, was the 14th edition of the biennial African international women's football tournament organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF), hosted by Morocco from 2 to 23 July 2022.^[1][2]

The tournament also doubled as the African qualifiers to the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup. The top four teams qualified for the World Cup, and two more teams advanced to the inter-confederation play-offs.^[3]

Nigeria were the three-time defending champions, having won the previous 3 editions in 2014, 2016 and 2018; but had its journey ended in the semi-finals after losing to the hosts Morocco on penalties, making it for the first time neither Nigeria or Equatorial Guinea featured in the final. The hosts went on to lose to South Africa in the final, as South Africa claimed its first ever continental trophy after five previous attempts. With this triumph, South Africa joined Nigeria as the only countries to have won both the men's and women's competition.

This was the first edition to feature 12 teams as the 2020 edition, which would have been the first, was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Africa. The Morocco vs Nigeria semi-final broke the WAFCON attendance records with 45,562 spectators.^[4]

Morocco were announced as hosts on 15 January 2021.^[2] This is the first time a North African Arab country has hosted the Women's Africa Cup of Nations.

The mascot for this edition of the tournament was unveiled as "TITRIT" (a Moroccan Berber name meaning "star" or "celebrity"), a young lioness clothed with the home jersey of the host nation's national football team, with a traditional Moroccan tiara.^[5]

Morocco qualified automatically as hosts, while the remaining eleven spots were determined by the qualifying rounds.

Team	Finals appearance	Last appearance	Date of qualification	Previous best performance	Previous World Cup appearances	FIFA ranking at start of event
Morocco (hosts)	3rd	2000	15 January 2021	Group stage (1998, 2000)	0	77
Uganda	2nd	2000	28 January 2022	Group stage (2000)	0	156
Burundi	1st	—	21 February 2022	Debut	0	169
Zambia	4th	2018	22 February 2022	Quarter finals (1995)	0	103
Senegal	2nd	2012	22 February 2022	Group stage (2012)	0	89
Togo	1st	—	23 February 2022	Debut	0	118
Nigeria	14th	2018	23 February 2022	Champions (1991, 1995, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2010, 2014, 2016, 2018)	8	39
Tunisia	2nd	2008	23 February 2022	Group stage (2008)	0	72
Burkina Faso	1st	—	23 February 2022	Debut	0	138
Botswana	1st	—	23 February 2022	Debut	0	152
Cameroon	13th	2018	23 February 2022	Runners-up (1991, 2004, 2014, 2016)	2	54
South Africa	13th	2018	23 February 2022	Runners-up (1995, 2000, 2008, 2012, 2018)	1	58

The tournament was held in Casablanca and Rabat.

Morocco	Rabat		Casablanca
Rabat Casablanca	Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium	Stade Moulay Hassan	Stade Mohammed V
	Capacity: 50,000	Capacity: 12,000	Capacity: 45,891

A total of 16 referees, 16 assistant referees and 8 VAR referees were appointed for the tournament.^[6][7]

Originally, Fatima El Ajjani (Morocco) was assigned as video assistant referee only. However, she was assigned as principal referee during the tournament after Aïssata Boudy Lam (Mauritania) sustained an injury.

Referees

Assistant referees

Video assistant referees

The final draw was held in Rabat, Morocco on 29 April 2022 at 20:30 GMT (UTC±0).^[8] The twelve teams were drawn into three groups of four teams, with the hosts Morocco, reigning champions Nigeria, and next-highest-ranked Cameroon assigned to positions A1, C1, and B1, respectively.^[9]

Seeds	Pot 1
Morocco (A1)  Cameroon (B1)  Nigeria (C1)	Togo  Uganda  Zambia  Burundi  Tunisia  Senegal  Botswana  Burkina Faso  South Africa

CAF released the official match schedule for the tournament on 29 April 2022.^{[10][dead link‍]} The top two teams of each group, along with the best two third-placed teams, advanced to the quarter-finals.

Tiebreakers

Teams were ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss).

If two teams were tied on points, the following tiebreaking criteria were applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings (Regulations Article 74):^[11]

1. Points in head-to-head matches match between the two tied teams;
2. Goal difference in all group matches;
3. Goals scored in all group matches;
4. Drawing of lots.

If more than two teams were tied, the following criteria were applied instead:

1. Points in matches between the tied teams;
2. Goal difference in matches between the tied teams;
3. Goals scored in matches between the tied teams;
4. If after applying all criteria above, two teams were still tied, the above criteria were again applied to matches played between the two teams in question. If this did not resolve the tie, the next three criteria were applied;
5. Goal difference in all group matches;
6. Goals scored in all group matches;
7. Drawing of lots.

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Morocco (H)	3	3	0	0	5	1	+4	9	Knockout stage
2	Senegal	3	2	0	1	3	1	+2	6
3	Burkina Faso	3	0	1	2	2	4	−2	1
4	Uganda	3	0	1	2	3	7	−4	1

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Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Zambia	3	2	1	0	5	1	+4	7	Knockout stage
2	Cameroon	3	1	2	0	3	1	+2	5
3	Tunisia	3	1	0	2	4	4	0	3
4	Togo	3	0	1	2	3	9	−6	1

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Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	South Africa	3	3	0	0	6	2	+4	9	Knockout stage
2	Nigeria	3	2	0	1	7	2	+5	6
3	Botswana	3	1	0	2	4	5	−1	3
4	Burundi	3	0	0	3	3	11	−8	0

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Pos	Grp	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	B	Tunisia	3	1	0	2	4	4	0	3	Knockout stage
2	C	Botswana	3	1	0	2	4	5	−1	3
3	A	Burkina Faso	3	0	1	2	2	4	−2	1

	Quarter finals				Semi finals				Final
	13 July – Rabat (Prince Moulay Abdellah)
	Morocco	2
					18 July – Rabat (Prince Moulay Abdellah)
	Botswana	1
					Morocco (p)	1 (5)
	14 July – Casablanca
					Nigeria	1 (4)
	Cameroon	0
									23 July – Rabat (Prince Moulay Abdellah)
	Nigeria	1
									Morocco	1
	13 July – Casablanca
									South Africa	2
	Zambia (p)	1 (4)
					18 July – Casablanca
	Senegal	1 (2)
					Zambia	0
	14 July – Rabat (Moulay Hassan)
					South Africa	1			Third place
	South Africa	1
									22 July – Casablanca
	Tunisia	0
									Nigeria	0
									Zambia	1

					Repechage
					17 July – Rabat (Moulay Hassan)
					Botswana	0
					Cameroon	1
					17 July – Casablanca
					Senegal (p)	0 (4)
					Tunisia	0 (2)

The winners qualified for the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup. The losers entered a repechage round.

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The winners advanced to the inter-confederation play-offs.

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There were 63 goals scored in 28 matches, for an average of 2.25 goals per match.

3 goals

2 goals

1 goal

1 own goal

The following awards were given at the conclusion of the tournament:^[13]

Award	Winner
Best player	Ghizlane Chebbak
Best goalkeeper	Andile Dlamini
Top scorer	Ghizlane Chebbak Rasheedat Ajibade Hildah Magaia
Fair Play	South Africa

Best XI^[14]

Goalkeeper	Defenders	Midfielders	Forwards
Andile Dlamini	Zineb Redouani Osinachi Ohale Bambanani Mbane Margaret Belemu	Ghizlane Chebbak Refiloe Jane Grace Chanda	Fatima Tagnaout Rasheedat Ajibade Jermaine Seoposenwe

Part of a series on the
2023 FIFA Women's World Cup
Hosting Bids Australia–New Zealand Brazil Colombia Japan Broadcasting rights Venues Brisbane Stadium Dunedin Stadium Eden Park Hindmarsh Stadium Melbourne Rectangular Stadium Perth Rectangular Stadium Stadium Australia Sydney Football Stadium Waikato Stadium Wellington Regional Stadium
Qualification Overview Africa group stage group A group B group C knockout stage Asia group stage group A group B group C knockout stage Europe group stage group A group B group C group D group E group F group G group H group I play-offs North and Central America group stage group A group B Oceania * South America group stage group A group B knockout stage Inter-confederation play-offs
Matches Group stage group A group B group C group D group E group F group G group H Knockout stage Final
People Sarai Bareman Gianni Infantino Fatma Samoura Officials Squads
Promotional and related media FIFA 23 downloadable content Songs "Unity" - Kelly Lee Owens "Do It Again" - BENEE ft. Mallrat
Controversies Overview Auckland shooting Big Five broadcasting rights England 20–0 Latvia Haka videos OneLove Professionalism disputes Canada England France Jamaica Nigeria Spain Rubiales case
v t e

The following teams will represent Africa directly at the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup, while two more teams will have opportunities to join them through the inter-confederation playoffs.

Team	Qualified on	Previous appearances in FIFA Women's World Cup1
Zambia	13 July 2022	0 (debut)
Morocco	13 July 2022	0 (debut)
Nigeria	14 July 2022	8 (1991, 1995, 1999, 2003, 2007, 2011, 2015, 2019)
South Africa	14 July 2022	1 (2019)

¹ Bold indicates champions for that year. Italic indicates hosts for that year.

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