Nigeria have barely had the time to shine their 10th Women’ s Africa Cup of Nations( WAFCON) trophy as they gear up to defend it from 17 March to 3 April, with the 2026 tournament taking place just eight months after its predecessor.
The timing is a result of the 2024 edition being postponed by a year due to the Paris Olympics and its relevance was muted, especially compared to the upcoming one, which serves as 2027 World Cup qualification.
All four semifinalists will book their tickets to Brazil, where they will hope to demonstrate the continued improvement of African football on a global stage. At the last tournament, all the African sides won at least one match and three – South Africa, Morocco and Nigeria – progressed to the round of 16. The smart money would be on the same quartet, which also includes Zambia, to go through, but there are plenty of challengers.
Last edition ' s bronze medallists, Ghana, who have a youthful squad and are coached by Sweden’ s Lars Kim Bjorkegren, will be a team to watch for and will have an eye on their first World Cup since 2007. The same can be said for high-flyers, Malawi, who will be playing at their first WAFCON, but have the personnel to go far.
They are headlined by the Chiwenga sisters, who have lit up both sides of the Global North. Temwa was named the Most Valuable Player in the American National Women’ s Soccer League for 2025 while her older sister Tabitha is based at France’ s most successful team, Lyon.
The task will be made harder by an expanded field, with the tournament now featuring 16 teams instead of the usual 12. The additional four were added after qualification and based on rankings, which opened the door to Cameroon, Ivory Coast,
Mali and Egypt to compete on the continent’ s biggest stage.
South Africa are grouped with the second of those and are familiar with West African opposition after playing both Ghana and Mali at last year’ s event.
Their most convincing victory came against Mali as South Africa put four goals past them and kept a clean sheet to finish at the top of the group. That was as good as it got for Banyana Banyana, who were pushed to a penalty shootout in their quarterfinal against Senegal and went down 2-1 to Nigeria in the semifinals. The match was not the only thing they lost.
Midfielder Gabi Salgado suffered a horrific injury in the twilight moment of the game when she slipped and broke her shin. All her teammates, apart from captain Refiloe Jane and now-retired striker Jermaine Seoposenwe, ran away from Salgado in horror while the senior pair stayed with her as she was stretchered off and taken to hospital. Salgado had surgery immediately, which ruled her out of action for several months and robbed local club JVW of her services for the latter end of the domestic season.
WOMEN ' S AFRICA CUP OF NATIONS
The heartbreak was made worse considering it was the second tournament that left a scar on Salgado. She missed the 2022 event, which South Africa won, after suffering a serious injury in the week before the tournament and has been vocal on social media about her mental battle to get back on the field, then and now. Getting over this one was much harder. " I couldn’ t walk and had to rely on others for simple tasks,” Salgado told JVW’ s website.“ That was mentally challenging. As athletes, we’ re used to independence, so having to relearn everything step by step was difficult.”
But Salgado’ s time was quickly filled as she also planned her wedding to partner Robyn Moodaly. The pair were married in a lavish ceremony on Johannesburg ' s East Rand in January, where Salgado was able to both walk down the aisle and dance the night away. She is also back to having the ball at her feet and hoping it will be third time lucky for her at WAFCON as she looks to play a full tournament and play her part in South Africa’ s attempt to go for gold.
“ Being back means everything. The last six months were intense, with hard work and setbacks, but it was all worth it,” Salgado said.
Many players will say the same about the opportunity to represent the country despite the lack of a professional domestic league and continued challenges in administration. Coach Desiree Ellis only had her contract finalised after Banyana had qualified for WAFCON, but has now committed to another four years at the helm.
This will be her fourth continental tournament in charge and she has packed her squad with firepower. It includes Mexican-based striker Thembi Kgatlana, who was not part of the last WAFCON group for personal reasons. Combined with Hildah Magaia and Linda Motlhalo, they form a potent strike force and will hope to keep goalkeepers guessing as South Africa aim for a third World Cup appearance and second continental title.
BANYANA BANYANA GROUP MATCHES
17 March: SA v Tanzania 20 March: SA v Ivory Coast 23 March: SA v Burkina Faso
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