The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has confirmed that the TotalEnergies Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) will be expanded from 12 to 16 participating teams, beginning with the 2026 edition scheduled to hold in Morocco from March 17 to April 3, 2026.
In an announcement published on its official website on Wednesday, CAF explained that the expansion reflects its long-term goal of enhancing competitiveness and advancing the growth of women’s football across Africa.
Since the qualifying rounds for the 2026 tournament have already concluded, the CAF Executive Committee approved a special procedure to determine the four additional nations to complete the lineup.
“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 statement read.
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Accordingly, Cameroon (66th in FIFA ranking), Côte d’Ivoire (71st), Mali (79th), and Egypt (95th) will join the already qualified 12 countries: Morocco (hosts), Zambia, Tanzania, Malawi, Algeria, Nigeria, Ghana, Burkina Faso, Kenya, Cape Verde, South Africa, and Senegal.
CAF emphasized that the expansion would provide more African teams the opportunity to compete at the highest level on the continent, thereby increasing international visibility and experience for women’s football in Africa.
The 2026 WAFCON will also serve as the African qualifying tournament for the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup, which will take place in Brazil.