The 12 berths allocated for 2022 Africa Women Cup of Nations, officially known as the Total Women’s Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, have been filled after two rounds of qualifiers.
This year’s edition which is the 12th edition of the biennial international football championship will be hosted by Morocco from July 2 to 23, 2022. The tournament also doubles as the African qualifiers to the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup with the top four teams qualifying for the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.
This will be the first time for 12 teams to feature in the tournament with four teams making their first entry.
Meet the 12 Qualified Teams:
Morocco (Hosts)
As conventional, Morocco booked their space to compete automatically after they were designated as hosts in January of 2021.
While others were competing for a berth at the tournament, the host used the time to engage in friendlies in Europe as part of preparations.
The Atlas Lionesses, secured 1-0 and 4-0 wins over Malta and Moldova.
Uganda
This will be the Crested Cranes’ second appearance in the tournament, marking their return after 22 years of absence. One of two CECAFA representatives to the tournament, they became the second team to qualify after Kenya withdrew from the Second Round. They earlier progressed to the second round after a dramatic 2-1 win over Ethiopia in post-match penalties. Both teams settled to a 2-2 on aggregate.
Burundi
The Swallows road to their debut AWCON was quite easy and their real test could be at the tournament itself.
They brushed aside Eritrea 6-0 on aggregate in the first round and eventually booked their ticket after a 6-1 aggregate win against another weaker side, Djibouti.
Zambia-(Advanced on away goals rule) –
Third appearance, second successive, the Copper Queens had a rough ride to the tournament. After narrowly edging out Malawi 4-3 on aggregate, the Queens met up with another huge task that saw them settling to a 1-1 aggregate draw against Namibia and luckily qualified on away goals.
Senegal
What has been described as the “biggest upset” in the qualifying tournament was pulled off by Senegal. The female Teranga Lionesses ended their decade-long wait by preventing regulars, Mali from qualifying for this year’s tournament.
First Round – Liberia 1-2 Senegal (0-6)
Second Round – Senegal 1-0 Mali (0-1) (3-2 APK)
Togo
The Female Sparrow hawk had a historic first attempt, becoming one of the latest West African sides to qualify for the AWCON for the first time. They edged out Gabon 4-2 in the second round to book their place.
Botswana [Advanced on away goals rule]
This year’s tournament will be the Mares’ first-ever like Burundi, Burkina Faso and Togo. They managed to edge past Angola (5-1) and Zimbabwe (3-1).
South Africa
According to CAF’s records, the South Africans, four-time vice-champions extended their perfect record qualifying for every edition of the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations since the official first in 1998. Thanks to a massive 12-0 aggregate win over Mozambique in the first round and an intriguing 3-1 win over Algeria in the return-leg.
Tunisia
It has been a long time coming since the North Africans made their AWCON debut in 2008 and have been absent from the tournament. Their return was marked by a 7-2 aggregate before a 7-3 crushing of Equatorial Guinea to confirm their return.
Burkina Faso
Another debutants and second newcomers from West Africa, the Burkinabes had an impressive run to qualify for their first-ever AWCON.
First Round – Burkina Faso – Benin (aggregate 5-2)
Second Round – Guinea-Bissau- Burkina Faso (aggregate 7-1)
Nigeria
As was expected, the defending champions maintained their ever present record at the 12th edition, eliminating two top sides in their quest for a 10th title.
First Round – Nigeria – Ghana (aggregate 2-1)
Cameroon
The Indomitable Lionesses, three-time runners-up, are going to their record 12th AWCON.
First Round – Central African Republic- Cameroon (aggregate 0-3)
Second Round – Cameroon (10-1 aggregate) Gambia
The twelve teams will be drawn into three groups of four teams, with the hosts Morocco automatically seeded and assigned to Position A1 in the draw.
The seeding, accordion to the format of the draw, will be based on their performance in 2018 Africa Women Cup of Nations final tournament and 2022 tournament’s qualification.
Below are seeding ahead of the draws:
Pot 1
Morocco
Nigeria
South Africa
Pot 2
Cameroon
Zambia
Burundi
Pot 3
Burkina Faso
Tunisia
Togo
Pot 4
Senegal
Botswana
Uganda
