CAF Expands WAFCON Teams To 16 For 2026 Tournament

The Confederation of African Football has announced the expansion of the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) from 12 to 16 teams.

The expansion is expected to start with the 2026 edition scheduled to take place in Morocco from March 17 to April 3, 2026.

The decision is in line with CAF’s strategic objective to boost competitiveness and quicken the growth of women’s football throughout the continent, the organisation said in a statement posted on its website on Wednesday.

The statement read: “As the qualification phase for the 2026 edition has already been completed, the Executive Committee has approved the selection mechanism to determine the four additional Teams.

“Based on the current FIFA Women’s World Rankings, the top four teams from those eliminated in the final qualifying round have been selected to complete the list of participants.

“The following teams will therefore join the finals of the TotalEnergies CAF WAFCON Morocco 2026: Cameroon (66th in the FIFA ranking), Cote d’Ivoire (71), Mali (79), and Egypt (95),” the body added.

The four teams will join the 12 nations that have already qualified: Morocco (hosts), Zambia, Tanzania, Malawi, Algeria, Nigeria, Ghana, Burkina Faso, Kenya, Cape Verde, South Africa, and Senegal.

The 2026 WAFCON also serves as the continental qualifier for the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2027 in Brazil.

The Super Falcons are the most successful nation in the history of the tournament since it became full-scale in 1998, winning 10 of the 13 editions so far and making it to at least the semi-final in every tournament they have played.