Cameroon beat Malawi to win Wafcon 2026 as Algeria and Cameroon qualify for 2027 World Cup
Cameroon defeated Malawi 3-0 in the final of the 2026 Women's Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco on Sunday, while Algeria and Cameroon secured places at the 2027 Women's World Cup by reaching the semi-finals and South Africa must contest an inter-confederation play-off to qualify.
The tournament, held across Rabat and Casablanca over three weeks, had been postponed just 12 days before it was originally due to start in March and was expanded to 16 teams partway through qualifying. That late increase, announced while qualifying was under way, allowed teams such as Cameroon and Ivory Coast—both of whom missed the previous Wafcon—to reach the finals on the strength of their world rankings; Ivory Coast topped their group before losing to Algeria in the quarter-finals.
All four semi-finalists earned places at the 2027 FIFA Women's World Cup, meaning Malawi and Algeria will make their debuts at the global tournament alongside Cameroon and hosts Morocco. Cameroon, having advanced via the expanded field after being knocked out of qualifying by Algeria, went on to claim the title and will receive $2m in prize money.
The competition produced several unexpected results and increased competitiveness compared with 2024: Tanzania upset South Africa despite a 65-place gap in the world rankings, and South Africa required a 99th-minute equaliser to earn a draw with Ivory Coast. Debutants Malawi beat 10-time champions Nigeria 3-2 in their opening game and then defeated Ghana and Algeria to reach the final, powered in part by the attacking Chawinga sisters; Temwa Chawinga finished as top scorer with five goals and two assists, ahead of Cameroon's Marie Ngah Manga and Zambia's Barbra Banda.
Nigeria endured its worst Wafcon campaign, exiting in the quarter-finals to Cameroon and then losing 2-1 to South Africa in the World Cup play-off, which will see the Super Falcons absent from next year's World Cup for the first time. Former striker Desire Oparanozie has called for "a fresh start - a start that evaluates everything" and a fact-finding committee established by the Nigerian football federation will examine the failure; the report noted the longstanding reliance on talent based abroad and a lack of institutional structure.
Valentine Nguele became the fifth female coach to win the Wafcon title in the tournament's 14th edition, joining Clementine Toure (Equatorial Guinea, 2008), Eucharia Uche (Nigeria, 2010), Florence Omagbemi (Nigeria, 2016) and Desiree Ellis (South Africa, 2022); Nguele took charge in June. Cameroon technical co-ordinator Dimitri Lipoff said: "We worked as crazy since two months [ago], day and night, and this is the result," adding: "We had no team, nothing was ready. We tried to build a kind of bubble. This is an incredible team effort." The side were greeted by thousands of supporters on their return to Yaounde on Monday.
Statistically, the finals yielded 90 goals in 32 games (excluding the two Women's World Cup play-offs), an average of 2.81 goals per game compared with 2.54 in 2024. Several teams failed to register wins—Cape Verde, Egypt and Kenya—with Egypt conceding 15 goals and Kenya failing to score; Zambia collected six points but did not advance, and Mali were eliminated on goal difference after finishing level on four points with Ghana. Match attendances outside fixtures involving hosts Morocco remained low, and organisers cited the late rearrangement, travel costs and visa requirements as contributing factors; a VAR pitch-side review during Cameroon's group win over Mali lasted almost four minutes. Morocco were awarded late penalties against Cameroon in the semi-final and against Algeria in the third-place play-off, but the Atlas Lionesses failed to convert nine of their 13 spot kicks, "having three of four in regulation or extra time saved or missed."
Attention now turns to Olympic qualification and the remaining World Cup places: preliminaries for Los Angeles 2028 recommence in October and will continue across three international windows next year with 32 sides competing for two places at the Games, while South Africa and Ghana will enter an inter-confederation qualifier for next year's Women's World Cup.
