WAFCON quarterfinals preview: World Cup spots on the line, players to watch and more key stories
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The 2026 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations quarterfinal matches are set.
Ivory Coast, who were admitted to the continental tournament last November after the Confederation of African Football (CAF) decided to expand the tournament from 12 teams to 16 when qualification was already over, will face Algeria on Saturday, Aug. 8, to open the knockout phase. Hosts Morocco will then take on South Africa later in the day in a repeat of the 2022 WAFCON final.
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On Sunday, Cameroon — who, like Ivory Coast, were an expansion invite — take on 10-time champions and current titleholders Nigeria. The quarterfinals will then conclude with debutants Malawi playing Ghana.
With this edition of WAFCON also serving as Africa’s 2027 World Cup qualifiers, the four teams who reach the semifinals of this tournament will automatically earn places in Brazil for next June and July.
The sides that lose their quarterfinals still have an opportunity to qualify — they will face each other on Thursday, Aug. 13, a day after the WAFCON semifinals, in a World Cup qualification playoff bracket. The winners of those two fixtures go on to compete against eight more teams from other confederations across the globe in a play-off tournament that takes place in November, December and February to decide the final three World Cup contestants.
Nigeria have qualified for every Women’s World Cup since the first edition in 1991. Morocco are searching for their first WAFCON trophy, after reaching the final in the past two tournaments. Ghana placed third at the previous WAFCON a year ago, but haven’t competed in a World Cup since 2007.
Each of the eight surviving squads have a story, their own blend of youth and veteran experience, homegrown talent and players developed abroad. Those that reach the semifinals, and thus the World Cup, should offer a vivid look at the current state of women’s football in Africa.
Here’s what you need to know about the WAFCON knockout stage.
The revival of Thembi Kgatlana
In the 2022 tournament, South Africa striker Thembi Kgatlana suffered an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) knee injury during the final group-stage match, so missed the rest of the tournament. Despite this, South Africa ultimately lifted their first and only WAFCON trophy.
Kgatlana, who plays for Tigres in Mexico, chose not to participate in WAFCON 2025 for personal reasons and the defending champions fell to Nigeria, 2-1, in the semifinals and then lost to Ghana on penalties, following a 1-1 draw, in the third-place match.
This year, Kgatlana, 30, has shown what she can offer South Africa, scoring two critical goals to see her side through to the knockout stage.
After being upset 2-1 by Tanzania in their opening group match, South Africa fell behind Ivory Coast 2-0 in the second game, putting them at risk of what would have been a shockingly early exit. But Kgatlana found the net in the 71st minute to halve the gap, and in the ninth minute of stoppage time, fellow 30-something Hildah Magaia scored to earn a crucial point.
Against Burkina Faso in their group finale, with South Africa needing three points to advance, Kgatlana rose to the challenge again, getting the only goal of the match in the 21st minute.
South Africa have been considered a powerhouse of African women’s football for years.
In addition to that WAFCON title in 2022, the country also boasts a strong domestic league. Of the 26 players on the roster at this tournament, 22 are with clubs in South Africa. Half of those play for Mamelodi Sundowns, who have won the CAF Women’s Champions League twice in the past five years.
However, there are concerns over a lack of significant development at the national-team level, demonstrated by South Africa’s older roster this year compared to other countries.
Are Morocco the team to beat?
Of all the teams competing in this WAFCON, Morocco arguably carry the biggest chip on their shoulder.
Over the past decade, the Royal Moroccan Football Federation has invested heavily in the infrastructure of the sport, for club and for country, and for both male and female players.
Morocco is hosting this tournament for a third consecutive time, and the last two ended in heartbreak in the final. They lost to South Africa 2-1 in 2022, thanks to a brace by Magaia. Last year’s edition stung even more, as the North Africans built a 2-0 lead in the first half, only to concede three times in the second, handing Nigeria their 10th WAFCON trophy.
All of which lays the groundwork for what is essentially a “now or never” scenario for Morocco.
Between that WAFCON 12 months ago and this one, the roster hasn’t changed much, but the quality of their performances has matured. The time spent playing together — and perhaps bonding through past losses — is evident in their chemistry on the pitch, and they finished their group games against Kenya, Algeria and Senegal as the only team in the tournament to have not conceded a goal.
A new addition, 18-year-old Barcelona forward Kautar Azraf, has added more energy to Morocco’s attacking game and has granted them the luxury of playing reigning African Women’s Footballer of the Year Ghizlane Chebbak, 35, sparingly through the group stage.
Of course, none of these things will matter much if they don’t lead to Morocco lifting their first WAFCON trophy on Sunday Aug. 16, in Rabat.
Their meeting with South Africa in the quarterfinals, a rematch of the first of their back-to-back WAFCON finals, is a fitting and poetic challenge that will also provide perspective on just how much each team has changed since 2022.
Two expansion teams are through to the quarterfinals
CAF announced an expansion of the WAFCON format from 12 to 16 teams on Nov. 5.
Qualification for the tournament had ended by then, so the federation invited the four highest-ranked teams from the final qualifying round who hadn’t already got in to join the party: Cameroon (who were ranked 66th in the world at the time by FIFA), Ivory Coast (71st), Mali (79th) and Egypt (95th).
Two of the four, Cameroon and Ivory Coast, have now gone undefeated in their group fixtures, topping their respective sections to advance to the quarterfinals. It’s an extraordinary feat for teams that did not take a traditional path to WAFCON but can now compete for a continental title and are 90 minutes from qualifying for the World Cup.
Nearly half of Ivory Coast’s roster is composed of locally based players; 12 of them play in their homeland, while the others are spread elsewhere across Africa and abroad in Europe, Central Asia and North America.
Some of their most impressive players in the group stage have been their youngest: Grace Sery and N’Sira Ouedraogo, both 18, and 24-year-old Inès Konan scored all but one of Ivory Coast’s eight goals in those opening three matches.
They’re a side who have looked tough to beat once they settle into a flow, something they’ve managed to do more consistently under manager Reynald Pedros, whose last assignments were with Lyon Women at club level and Morocco Women.
Ivory Coast’s quarterfinal with Algeria has the makings of a classic battle between attacking and defensive sides, as the latter conceded just one goal in the group stage.
Cameroon have a more cosmopolitan roster than Ivory Coast, with players stationed at clubs in Japan, Turkey, Russia, Mexico and France, in addition to back home. They were less prolific goalscorers in the group, totaling four across the three matches, but their ability to see out a game after scoring first (as they did in beating Ghana 1-0 and drawing 1-1 against Cape Verde) could bode well in knockout play.
The Indomitable Lionesses’ top scorer, Marie Ngah (whose three goals at the tournament have all been penalties), has a tough task ahead of her.
Nigeria have traditionally possessed one of the best back lines on the continent, though their performances in their opening three WAFCON matches have fallen short of expectation. The 10-time champions conceded three times to debutants Malawi, but salvaged a clean sheet against Zambia in their 1-0 victory, despite being down to 10 players the entire second half. They then recorded a 6-2 win against Egypt on Wednesday, edging out Zambia on goal differential to claim the second and last ticket to the quarterfinals from Group C.
How to watch
WAFCON 2026 is available to watch on beIN Sports Xtra, a Qatari state-owned sports network, on platforms such as Fubo, Sling, Roku TV and Tubi in the United States.
Ivory Coast vs. Algeria — Saturday, Aug. 8 at 1 p.m. ET / 10 a.m. PT
Morocco vs. South Africa — Saturday, Aug. 8 at 4 p.m. ET / 1 p.m. PT
Cameroon vs. Nigeria — Sunday, Aug. 9 at 1 p.m. ET / 10 a.m. PT
Malawi vs. Ghana — Sunday, Aug. 9 at 4 p.m. ET / 1 p.m. PT
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
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