Rabat – The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has just confirmed that the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations, WAFCON, will get bigger. It will host 16 teams in Morocco 2026 instead of the current 12, from March 17 to April 3 2026.
By upping the number of teams, the final tournament will have a bigger pool to choose from and the line-up of teams competing in North Africa next spring will be different.
The CAF Executive Committee has gone for this expansion as part of a broader effort to get women’s football kickstarted across the whole continent and align WAFCON with bigger global tournaments.
Next year’s WAFCON will be the African qualifier for the 2027 Women’s World Cup will take place in Brazil, in which the four top teams in Morocco will earn a ticket to the World Cup.
Qualifications already occurred for the 2026 WAFCON, and the CAF announced a new system to admit in four more teams — the four teams that didn’t make it are highest in FIFA rankings. CAF recently added Cameroon, Egypt, the Ivory Coast and Mali to the competition.
WAFCON expansion and logistics
Morocco — which has hosted WAFCON previously — is busy preparing its stadiums and the infrastructure for the bigger competition; the country’s hosting experience is appealing to the CAF and the press.
The new format means the group draws and the scheduling will be different, with the tournament expected to see four groups of four teams.
This means we are expecting a longer group phase and more knockout-round action than before.
This change is designed to get more African countries involved in women’s football, giving them a chance to play at a high level and gain exposure. Fans welcome the extra opportunities for the smaller nations.
It’s going to be interesting to see if the bigger competition ends up producing more exciting matches and giving the emergence of new talent a chance to shine.
