Moving the Goalposts | ‘Ridiculous’ Wafcon delay leaves African women’s football in a mess

When the final round of qualifiers for the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (Wafcon) concluded in December, the 12 qualified teams presumed the tournament would take place in Morocco at some point this year. But they will now have to wait an unprecedented 19 months – until 5-26 July 2025 – before it is staged in order to avoid a clash with this summer’s Olympics.

“It is a ridiculous situation,” said an official of the Nigeria Football Federation, one of the participating teams, when speaking to the Guardian. “Where has it happened, in any confederation, anywhere in the world, for there to be a one-and-a-half-year gap between the end of a qualifying series and the main tournament? How does a coach maintain team momentum and keep the same players for the tournament?

“It is unacceptable that the Confederation of African Football (Caf) cannot schedule its tournaments properly and promptly, which is creating a huge mess for women’s national team football in the continent.”

The president of another participating team added: “When we had our usual Caf meeting, on the fringes of the last Fifa congress in Bangkok, we were told that they were waiting for guidance from Fifa before a tournament date could be confirmed. I was very surprised to hear that. It is Caf’s responsibility to ensure that its tournaments are properly scheduled, in alignment with the international match calendar”. Caf is supposed to fix the time for its competitions and consult Fifa in good time to ensure they are confirmed in the international match calendar.

“Caf awarded this tournament to Morocco in August 2022. There has been more than enough time for them to schedule the event properly,” added the president. “There is no excuse for the mess we are in. This year’s Olympic football tournament is no credible reason for why it has been postponed. They knew about the Olympics and they should have come up with a solution, to avoid the schedule clash”.

Except for Nigeria and Zambia, the continent’s two representatives at the forthcoming Olympics, the 10 other teams that qualified for Wafcon – Morocco, South Africa, Ghana, Tunisia, Mali, Algeria, Senegal, DR Congo, Botswana and Tanzania – will now have no competitive fixtures until next year. “It’s disappointing,” said Desiree Ellis, coach of South Africa, the reigning Wafcon champions, in an interview with South African broadcaster, SABC Sport. “The new cycle started last year to the World Cup. If the [Wafcon] draw can happen sooner than later you will know who you’re preparing for well in advance. If the draw can come early, I think that will help all other countries.”

Nigeria women’s footballers celebrate a goal.

This is the second time in four years that the tournament has suffered a scheduling setback – the 2020 Wafcon was cancelled as a result of the pandemic, leaving many within the continent’s football community deeply upset. The new tournament dates, which ensure Wafcon will be played at the same time as next year’s Women’s European Championship in Switzerland, does not lay Caf’s scheduling problems to rest – another Wafcon is scheduled to take place in 2026, with that tournament doubling as a qualifying tournament for the 2027 World Cup in Brazil. Perhaps unsurprisingly, a host and schedule for that tournament has yet to be organised by Caf.

“We are supposed to play [Wafcon] this year but we have teams engaged in the Olympics, so we have to find another date,” Véron Mosengo-Omba, Caf’s general secretary, told the BBC last month. “Scheduling is a nightmare for everybody.”

That may be true but Caf must take responsibility for its own problems in this regard and how that is harming the stability and long-term health of Africa’s premier women’s football tournament.

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