Join on WhatsApp
Join on Telegram
Morocco is set to host the 2022 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) announced.
The CAF Executive Committee designated Morocco as the host of the upcoming competition during a meeting in Yaounde, Cameroon, on Friday, January 15.
The Women’s African Cup of Nations took place twice in 1991 and 1995 before turning into a biennial event, starting in 1998.
Nigeria has dominated the competition since its establishment. The West African country has won 11 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations titles out of 13.
Equatorial Guinea is the only other country to win the competition. The Equatoguinean team earned the title in 2008 and 2012.
Morocco has only participated twice in the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations, in 1998 and 2000. Both tournaments saw the Moroccan national team eliminated from the group stage.
As the host country for the 2022 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations, and considering the major efforts it made for the promotion of women’s football, Morocco expects to have better chances of reaching advanced stages of the competition.
Morocco will be the first North African country to host the competition. So far, the event only took place in Nigeria (three times), South Africa (three times), Equatorial Guinea (twice), Namibia, Cameroon, and Ghana.
The designation of Morocco to host the continental competition proves that the country’s efforts to promote gender equality in football are bearing fruits and earning international recognition.
In recent years, the Moroccan Royal Football Federation (FRMF) launched several projects to encourage young girls to practice the sport. The federation’s vision seeks to create 1,000 women football coaches and 90,000 female players by 2024.
One of the major projects that the FRMF recently launched was the Moroccan Women’s League, which began in November 2019. The competition, which takes a similar format to the men’s local league Botola Pro, will allow women’s teams to compete on a regular basis throughout the years.
