The Sasol-sponsored Banyana Banyana will have to wait another year to defend their CAF Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) title.
This comes after the Confederation of African Football (CAF) announced that the tournament has been moved from its original date of July/August 2024 and is now scheduled to be played between 5-26 July 2025.
The Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) will also not be held on its normal period but has been postponed to kickoff later in the year on Sunday, 21 December 2025 with the final set for Sunday, 18 January 2026.
Both tournaments will be held in Morocco.
The decision was taken at a CAF Executive Committee held virtually on Friday (21 June 2024).
“I am confident that the CAF TotalEnergies AFCON Morocco 2025 will be extremely successful and will be the best AFCON in the history of this competition. I am also impressed by the enormous growth of Women’s Football in Africa and I am expecting the CAF TotalEnergies WAFCON Morocco 2024 to be immensely successful. The announcement of the dates of the CAF TotalEnergies AFCON Morocco 2025 took much longer than expected, as there were complex and at times challenging discussions with various interested parties, in the light of the extensive International and Domestic Match Calendars,” said CAF President Dr Patrice Motsepe in a statement.
“CAF is committed to protecting and advancing the interests of African players, playing in football clubs in Europe and worldwide. CAF is also committed to building mutually beneficial relationships with the ECA, UEFA, other Football Confederations and FIFA. We will continue to make significant progress in developing and ensuring that African Football is globally competitive and amongst the best in the World. CAF is grateful to King Mohamed VI of Morocco, the Fédération Royale Marocaine de Football (“FRMF”), its President Fouzi Lekjaa, the Government and people of Morocco for hosting the CAF TotalEnergies AFCON Morocco 2025 and the CAF TotalEnergies WAFCON Morocco 2024.”
Banyana Banyana lifted the WAFCON trophy in July 2022 and were expected to defend it in July/August this year but due to a congested calendar, had to be moved. One of the challenges with the dates is the upcoming Paris 2024 Olympic Games which will take place from next month, and will include two giants of African women’s football, Zambia and Nigeria.
Adding to jam-packed program, are the qualifiers of the CAF Women’s Champions League at club level, as well as the actual tournament.
This is the first time the WAFCON will be played outside its original scheduled year.
Twelve teams have already qualified for the tournament – Zambia, Botswana, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Algeria, Tunisia, Mali, Ghana, Senegal, Tanzania, Nigeria and will be joined by defending champions South Africa as well as hosts Morocco.
In the last tournament, the Desiree Ellis-coached Banyana Banyana defeated hosts Morocco 2-1 in the final in 2022.
On the other hand, Bafana Bafana returned with a bronze medal from the continental competition held in Cote d’Ivoire early this year.
The draw for the AFCON qualifiers has been set for Thursday, 4 July 2024 in Johannesburg.
Meanwhile, the CAF Executive Committee has also announced that the 46th CAF Ordinary General Assembly in Kinshasa in October.
In addition, bids have been opened to interested countries to host the
- CAF Women’s Champions League 2024;
- CAF TotalEnergies U17 AFCON;
- CAF TotalEnergies U20 AFCON;
- CAF Awards 2024.
The CAF Super Cup 2024 may be played in the Middle East after CAF received attractive proposals for the competition that will feature Al Ahly, winners of the CAF Champions League and Zamalek who lifted the CAF Confederation Cup. Both teams are from Egypt.
By Matlhomola Morake
