The African football governing body, Confederation of African Football (CAF) on Wednesday announced the expansion of the TotalEnergies Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) from 12 to 16 teams, beginning with the 2026 edition scheduled to take place in Morocco from March 17 to April 3, 2026.
The 2026 WAFCON will also serve as the African qualifier for the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Brazil.
CAF, which announced the development through a statement posted on its official website on Wednesday, said the decision aligns with its strategic vision to strengthen competitiveness and accelerate the development of women’s football across the continent.
“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),” CAF said.
According to the statement, four teams 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 African football governing body also added in the statement that the expansion would enable more African nations to gain exposure on the continental stage while boosting the global visibility of women’s football from Africa.
