Rabat—CAF has confirmed that the final draw for the TotalEnergies CAF Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) Morocco 2026 will take place on Thursday, January 15, in Rabat. This comes after the Futsal AFCON draw was held on Wednesday in Rabat as well.
Morocco will host the finals, which will be played from 17 March to 3 April 2026 and will also serve as the African qualification route for the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Brazil.
The draw, where CAF will also finally reveal the remaining recipients of the CAF Women’s Awards for 2025, is scheduled for 2:00 PM. These awards were delayed a while back due to the extended duration of the Women’s Champions League season.
In last November’s CAF Awards ceremony, Ghizlane Chebbak was named Women’s Player of the Year and Chiamaka Nnadozie retained Women’s Goalkeeper of the Year for the third straight year
This draw is a huge deal for the competition. For the first time ever, the Women’s AFCON is expanding to include 16 teams. This change opens the door for more nations to get a shot at competing on Africa’s biggest women’s football stage.
As hosts, Morocco qualified automatically and will stage the tournament as part of CAF’s continued push to grow the women’s game across the continent.
Qualified teams and women’s awards
The 16 teams that will take part in Women’s AFCON 2026 are Morocco (hosts), Algeria, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Côte d’Ivoire, Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania and Zambia.
Alongside the draw, CAF will also announce the winners of three outstanding women’s football awards that were originally due to be presented at the 2025 CAF Awards ceremony:
- CAF Women’s Coach of the Year
- CAF Women’s Interclub Player of the Year
- CAF Women’s Club of the Year
CAF recently reopened voting for these categories. While the confederation oversees the process, it does not take part in the voting itself.
The voting process isn’t the same for every award, different groups get to decide. For example, the Interclub Player of the Year is chosen by journalists, as well as the captains and coaches from the Women’s Champions League teams. The Women’s Coach of the Year award is handled by the media and national team coaches. And finally, the media teams up with the CAF Women’s Technical Committee to pick the Women’s Club of the Year.
