CAF expands 2026 WAFCON to 16 teams
The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has announced the expansion of the 2026 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) from 12 to 16 teams, with four additional nations: Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Mali and Egypt, joining the lineup for the tournament in Morocco.
CAF confirmed on Wednesday that the expansion, approved by its Executive Committee, will apply to all future editions of the competition. The 2026 WAFCON will take place in Morocco from March 17 to April 3, 2026, with a record prize fund of $1 million for the champions.
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“As the qualification phase for the 2026 WAFCON has already been completed, the Executive Committee has approved the selection mechanism to determine the four additional teams,” CAF said in a statement.
“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.”
Those four teams, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Mali and Egypt, will join the 12 nations that had already qualified: Morocco (hosts), Zambia, Tanzania, Malawi, Algeria, Nigeria, Ghana, Burkina Faso, Kenya, Cape Verde, South Africa, and Senegal.
The expansion is part of CAF’s broader strategy to develop women’s football across Africa, giving more nations exposure to top-level competition and strengthening the continent’s representation on the global stage.
The upcoming tournament will also serve as a qualification pathway to the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Brazil.
Morocco, which also hosted the 2022 and 2024 editions of the WAFCON, finishing runners-up on both occasions, will once again stage the finals, aiming to finally lift the continental crown on home soil.
