Nigeria, six others get first-round pass for 2026 WAFCON qualifiers

Nigeria has been exempted from the first-round of the qualifying series for the 2026 African Women’s Cup of Nations, which will be hosted by Morocco for the third consecutive time.

Nigeria is the record title holder of the championship, which was won by South Africa in 2022.

And so, the Super Falcons, alongside the other top six ranked African teams: South Africa, Morocco, Zambia, Ghana, Cameroon and Cote d’Ivoire, have received a pass to the second round of the qualifiers.

However, the Super Falcons will meet the winner of the preliminary round tie involving Benin Republic and Sierra Leone in the second-round of the qualifying series.

In the programme for the championship announced by CAF yesterday, 38 countries were listed for the preliminaries for the tournament, four fewer than the number that began the process for the 2024 edition.

Each side will play two rounds of home and away ties to decide which 11 teams will join the host nation at WAFCON 2026.

The first qualifying round will hold in February 2025, with the second round in October next year.

CAF is yet to announce the dates of the tournament.

Botswana and DR Congo have qualified for the delayed 2024 finals, but could both be missing from the 2026 edition after being handed a tricky draw.

They will face each other in the first round of preliminaries, and the winners will then meet reigning continental champions, South Africa.

The delayed 2024 WAFCON finals are scheduled to hold in Morocco from July 5 to 26, next year, having been pushed back because of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

The timing of the 12-team tournament was only announced in June.

In yesterday’s draws, Angola was pitted against Zimbabwe, Malawi will meet Congo-Brazzaville, it is Botswana versus DR Congo, while Tanzania will face Equatorial Guinea.

In other pairings, Uganda is up against Ethiopia, Eswatini will battle with neighbours, Namibia, Burundi will meet Burkina Faso, it’s Djibouti versus Togo, South Sudan against Algeria, while Rwanda will face Egypt, just as Kenya will battle with Tunisia.

Also in the preliminary round are the Niger versus The Gambia clash, Benin versus Sierra Leone, Guinea versus Cape Verde, Gabon against Mali and Chad versus Senegal.

The first round games will hold on a home and away basis from February 17 to 26, 2025.

In the second round, which will hold from October 20 to 28, 2025, the winner of the fixture involving Angola and Zimbabwe will clash with the winner of the Malawi versus Congo-Brazzaville tie, the Tanzania versus Equatorial Guinea winner will clash with the victor in the game between Uganda and Ethiopia, while the survivor of the Eswatini versus Namibia game will meet Zambia in the second round.

The winner in the Burundi versus Burkina Faso has been pitted against the victor in the Djibouti versus Togo match, the winner of the South Sudan versus Algeria game will meet with Cameroon, while the survivor in the game between Rwanda and Egypt will meet Ghana in the second round.

If they qualify for the second round, the winner of the battle between Kenya and Tunisia will play against the winner of the game between Niger and The Gambia, with the winner of the game between Guinea and Cape Verde billed to meet with the victor in the game between Gabon and Mali, while the winner of the game between Chad and Senegal will meet Cote d’Ivoire in the second round.