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]

Host selection

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.

Mascot

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]

Qualification

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

Qualified teams

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

Venues

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

Squads

Match officials

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

Suavis Iratunga
Zomadre Kore
Shahenda El-Maghrabi
Letticia Viana
Lidya Tafesse
Maria Rivet
Aïssata Boudy Lam
Fatima El Ajjani
Bouchra Karboubi
Antsino Twanyanyukwa
Ndidi Patience Madu
Salima Mukansanga
Mame Faye
Akhona Makalima
Vincentia Amedome
Dorsaf Ganouati
Shamira Nabadda

Assistant referees

Asma Ouahab
Nafissatou Yekini
Carine Atezambong
Kanjinga Mujanayi
Yara Abdelfattah
Mona Atallah
Lidwine Rakotozafinoro
Bernadettar Kwimbira
Fanta Kone
Queency Victoire
Mariem Chedad
Soukaina Hamdi
Fatiha Jermoumi
Mimisen Iyorhe
Afine Houda
Diana Chikotesha

Video assistant referees

Lahlou Benbraham
Ahmed El-Ghandour
Ahmed Ibrahim
Ahmad Heerallal
Zakaria Brindisi
Samir Guezzaz
Haythem Guirat

Draw

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

Group stage

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]

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

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

Points in matches between the tied teams;
Goal difference in matches between the tied teams;
Goals scored in matches between the tied teams;
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;
Goal difference in all group matches;
Goals scored in all group matches;
Drawing of lots.

Group A

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	Knockout stage
3	Burkina Faso	3	0	1	2	2	4	−2	1
4	Uganda	3	0	1	2	3	7	−4	1

Source: CAF (archived)
Rules for classification: Group stage tiebreakers
(H) Hosts

2 July 2022