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2018 Women's Africa Cup of Nations

Tournament details
Host country	Ghana
Dates	17 November – 1 December
Teams	8
Venue(s)	2 (in 2 host cities)
Final positions
Champions	Nigeria (11th title)
Runners-up	South Africa
Third place	Cameroon
Fourth place	Mali
Tournament statistics
Matches played	16
Goals scored	51 (3.19 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Thembi Kgatlana (5 goals)
Best player(s)	Thembi Kgatlana
Fair play award	Cameroon
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The 2018 Women's Africa Cup of Nations (officially known as the Total Women's Africa Cup Of Nations, Ghana 2018) was the 13th edition of the Africa Women Cup of Nations (formerly African Women's Championship), the biennial international football championship organised by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) for the women's national teams of Africa. The tournament was held in Ghana, from 17 November to 1 December 2018.

The tournament also doubled as the African qualifiers to the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup. The top three teams qualified for the World Cup in France.

Nigeria, the defending champions, won the tournament for their third consecutive and 11th overall Africa Women Cup of Nations title.

Sponsorship

In July 2016, Total has secured an eight-year sponsorship package from the Confederation of African Football (CAF) to support 10 of its principal competitions. Due to this sponsorship, the 2018 Women's Africa Cup of Nations is named "2018 Total Women's Africa Cup of Nations".

Host selection

There were no other associations bidding to host the event other than Ghana. Ghana was de facto awarded the hosting rights on 27 September 2016 and officially in mid December. It is the first time they hosted the women's event.

Following media reports in mid-2018 that Ghana may be stripped of the hosting rights, this topic was discussed at the meeting of the Organising Committee for Women's Football on 12 September, and a final decision not to replace Ghana as host was taken by the CAF Executive Committee at its meeting on 27–28 September, though the Secretariat would continue to closely monitor preparations.

Mascot

The mascot for the 11th Edition of Total Women's African Cup of Nations is called Agrohemaa and it is represented by an eagle. The reason why the eagle is used for the tournament is because of its courage, strength, focus and immortality.

Qualification

Ghana qualified automatically as hosts, while the remaining seven spots were determined by the qualifying rounds played in April and June 2018.

Equatorial Guinea were initially banned from the 2018 Africa Women Cup of Nations, but were reinstated after the ban was lifted in July 2017 at an emergency CAF committee meeting, and were included in the qualifying draw. However, FIFA banned them from qualifying for the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup, meaning they could not qualify for the World Cup regardless of their performance in the Africa Women Cup of Nations.

Qualified teams

The following eight teams qualified for the final tournament. Initially, Kenya replaced Equatorial Guinea after they were disqualified by the CAF for fielding an ineligible player, but the decision was overturned on appeal, and Equatorial Guinea were reintegrated into the competition. Kenya appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, but failed to overturn the decision.

Team	Appearance	Previous best performance	FIFA ranking at start of event
Ghana (hosts)	12th	Runners-up (1998, 2002, 2006)	47
Algeria	5th	Group stage (2004)	80
Cameroon	13th	Runners-up (1991, 2004, 2014, 2016)	49
Equatorial Guinea	5th	Champions (2008, 2012)	54
Mali	7th	Group stage (2006, 2016)	89
Nigeria	13th	Champions (1991, 1995, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2010, 2014, 2016)	38
South Africa	12th	Runners-up (1995, 2000, 2008, 2012)	50
Zambia	3rd	Quarter-finals (1995)	116

Venues

The tournament was held in Accra and Cape Coast.

Accra	AccraCape Coast	Cape Coast
Accra Sports Stadium		Cape Coast Sports Stadium
Capacity: 40,000		Capacity: 15,000

Squads

Each squad can contain a maximum of 21 players (Regulations Article 69).

Match officials

A total of 16 referees and 16 assistant referees were appointed for the tournament.

Draw

The draw for the final tournament was held on 21 October 2018, 19:00 GMT (UTC±0), at the Mövenpick Ambassador Hotel in Accra. The eight teams were drawn into two groups of four teams. The hosts Ghana were seeded in Group A and allocated to position A1, and the holders Nigeria were seeded in Group B and allocated to position B1. The remaining six teams were seeded based on their results in the last three editions of the Africa Women Cup of Nations, and drawn to any of the remaining three positions in each group.

Note: Kenya were initially included in the draw, but Equatorial Guinea were reinstated to the competition afterwards.

Group stage

The top two teams of each group advance to the semi-finals.

Tiebreakers

Teams are ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss), and if tied on points, the following tiebreaking criteria are applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings (Regulations Article 71):

1. Points in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
2. Goal difference in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
3. Goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
4. If more than two teams are tied, and after applying all head-to-head criteria above, a subset of teams are still tied, all head-to-head criteria above are reapplied exclusively to this subset of teams;
5. Goal difference in all group matches;
6. Goals scored in all group matches;
7. Drawing of lots.

All times are local, GMT (UTC±0).

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Cameroon	3	2	1	0	6	2	+4	7	Knockout stage
2	Mali	3	2	0	1	6	5	+1	6
3	Ghana (H)	3	1	1	1	3	3	0	4
4	Algeria	3	0	0	3	2	7	−5	0

Ghana	1–0	Algeria
Amfobea 13'	Report

Mali	1–2	Cameroon
A. Traoré 56'	Report	Meffometou 71' Nchout 73'

Ghana	1–2	Mali
Addo 71' (pen.)	Report	Touré 24' (pen.), 75'

Cameroon	3–0	Algeria
Onguéné 13' Enganamouit 54' Nchout 60'	Report

Cameroon	1–1	Ghana
Manie 41' (pen.)	Report	Boakye 31'

Algeria	2–3	Mali
Belkacemi 37' Merrouche 63' (pen.)	Report	F. Diarra 58', 90+4' (pen.) Diadhiou 83'

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	South Africa	3	2	1	0	9	2	+7	7	Knockout stage
2	Nigeria	3	2	0	1	10	1	+9	6
3	Zambia	3	1	1	1	6	5	+1	4
4	Equatorial Guinea	3	0	0	3	1	18	−17	0

Nigeria	0–1	South Africa
	Report	Kgatlana 85'

Zambia	5–0	Equatorial Guinea
G. Chanda 7' Lungu 43' Kundananji 57', 87' Mwakapila 66' (pen.)	Report

Nigeria	4–0	Zambia
Oparanozie 41' Ordega 69' Ajibade 75' Okoronkwo 90+4'	Report

Equatorial Guinea	1–7	South Africa
E. Obono 45+1'	Report	Motlhalo 19' (pen.) Nyandeni 21' Jane 56' Kgatlana 60', 63' Mthandi 76' Seoposenwe 79'

Equatorial Guinea	0–6	Nigeria
	Report	Ordega 10' Oshoala 13', 22', 33' Oparanozie 48' Chikwelu 63'

South Africa	1–1	Zambia
Kgatlana 8'	Report	Kundananji 10'

Knockout stage

In the knockout stage, extra time and penalty shoot-out are used to decide the winner if necessary, except for the third place match where penalty shoot-out (no extra time) is used to decide the winner if necessary (Regulations Article 72).

Bracket

	Semi-finals				Final
	27 November – Accra
	Cameroon	0 (2)
					1 December – Accra
	Nigeria (p)	0 (4)
					Nigeria (p)	0 (4)
	27 November – Cape Coast
					South Africa	0 (3)
	South Africa	2
	Mali	0
					Third place match
					30 November – Cape Coast
					Cameroon	4
					Mali	2

Semi-finals

Winners qualify for 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup.

Cameroon	0–0 (a.e.t.)	Nigeria
	Report
Penalties
Nchout Feudjio Enganamouit Ngo Mbeleck	2–4	Ebi Ajibade Oshoala Ebere

South Africa	2–0	Mali
Kgatlana 31' Ramalepe 81'	Report

Third place match

Winner qualifies for 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup.

Cameroon	4–2	Mali
Abena 32', 40' Onguéné 62' Manie 90+2'	Report	F. Diarra 44' Awona 56' (o.g.)

Final

Nigeria	0–0 (a.e.t.)	South Africa
	Report
Penalties
Ebi Ebere Chikwelu Ihezuo Uchendu	4–3	Matlou Ramalepe Nyandeni Makhabane Motlhalo

Goalscorers

There were 51 goals scored in 16 matches, for an average of 3.19 goals per match.

5 goals

• Thembi Kgatlana

3 goals

• Fatoumata Diarra
• Asisat Oshoala
• Racheal Kundananji

2 goals

• Ninon Abena
• Christine Manie
• Ajara Nchout
• Gabrielle Onguéné
• Bassira Touré
• Desire Oparanozie
• Francisca Ordega

1 goal

• Lydia Belkacemi
• Imene Merrouche
• Gaëlle Enganamouit
• Claudine Meffometou
• Elena Obono
• Elizabeth Addo
• Gladys Amfobea
• Portia Boakye
• Aïssatou Diadhiou
• Aissata Traoré
• Rasheedat Ajibade
• Rita Chikwelu
• Amarachi Okoronkwo
• Refiloe Jane
• Linda Motlhalo
• Amanda Mthandi
• Mpumi Nyandeni
• Lebogang Ramalepe
• Jermaine Seoposenwe
• Grace Chanda
• Ireen Lungu
• Mary Mwakapila

1 own goal

• Aurelle Awona (against Mali)

Awards

The following awards were given at the conclusion of the tournament:

Award	Winner
Best player	Thembi Kgatlana
Top scorer	Thembi Kgatlana
Fair Play	Cameroon

Team of the Tournament

Goalkeeper	Defenders	Midfielders	Forwards	Substitutes
Tochukwu Oluehi	Lebogang Ramalepe Janine van Wyk Onome Ebi Claudine Meffometou	Raissa Feudjio Marlyse Ngo Ndoumbouk Elizabeth Addo	Gabrielle Onguéné Thembi Kgatlana Bassira Touré	Kaylin Swart Asisat Oshoala Linda Motlhalo Genevieve Ngo Mbeleck Francisca Ordega Fatoumata Diarra

Qualified teams for FIFA Women's World Cup

The following three teams from CAF qualified for the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup.

Team	Qualified on	Previous appearances in FIFA Women's World Cup
Nigeria	27 November 2018	7 (1991, 1995, 1999, 2003, 2007, 2011, 2015)
South Africa	27 November 2018	0 (debut)
Cameroon	30 November 2018	1 (2015)

Bold indicates champions for that year. Italic indicates hosts for that year.

References

1. "Total, Title Sponsor of the Africa Cup of Nations and Partner of African Football". CAF. 21 July 2016. Archived from the original on 29 December 2016.
2. "GHANA TO HOST 2018 AFRICA WOMEN CUP OF NATIONS". dhakaba.com. 28 September 2016. Archived from the original on 11 April 2018. Retrieved 1 December 2016.
3. "Decisions of the CAF Executive Committee of 14 March 2017". CAFonline.com. 14 March 2017.
4. "Circular #1565 - FIFA women's tournaments 2018-2019" (PDF). FIFA.com. 11 November 2016. Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 November 2016.
5. AfricaNews (18 April 2017). "Total to sponsor CAF competitions for the next eight years". Africanews. Retrieved 18 April 2017.
6. "Ghana to host 2018 Africa Women's Cup of Nations". modernghana.com. 28 September 2016. Retrieved 11 January 2017.
7. "GFA receives official mandate to host 2018 Women AFCON". ghanafa.org. 12 December 2016. Archived from the original on 13 January 2017. Retrieved 11 January 2017.
8. "Statement on Total Women's Africa Cup of Nations Ghana 2018". CAF. 27 August 2018.
9. "Decisions of CAF Executive Commitee [sic] - 27 & 28 September 2018". CAF. 29 September 2018.
10. "'Agrohemaa' the Eagle unveiled as mascot for 2018 Africa Women's Cup of Nations". ghanasoccernet.com. 28 September 2018.
11. "2018 African Women's Cup of Nations qualifiers moved". Goal.com. 16 December 2017.
12. "Equatorial Guinea disqualified, Mali in". CAF. 4 August 2016.
13. "Equatorial Guinea banned from 2019 Women's World Cup". BBC. 6 October 2017.
14. "Equatorial Guinea expelled from FIFA Women's World Cup France 2019". FIFA.com. 5 October 2017. Archived from the original on 6 October 2017.
15. "Harambee Starlets appeal against Equatorial Guinea upheld, Kenya set to grace AWCON". Football Kenya Federation. 17 October 2018. Retrieved 19 October 2018.
16. "Kenya through, Equatorial Guinea disqualified". CAF. 18 October 2018.
17. "DECISIONS OF THE APPEAL BOARD OF 7th NOVEMBER 2018". CAF. 7 November 2018.
18. "Kenya to appeal to Cas over Equatorial Guinea reinstatement". BBC Sport. 8 November 2018.
19. "Kenya loses CAS appeal over Women's Nations Cup exclusion". BBC Sport. 16 November 2018.
20. "Women's Ranking – 28 September 2018 (CAF)". FIFA.com. Archived from the original on 19 October 2018.
21. "TOTAL WOMEN'S AFCON GHANA 2018 OFFICIALLY LAUNCHED". cafonline.com. 26 March 2018. Retrieved 27 March 2018.
22. ^ "Regulations of the Women Africa Cup of Nations" (PDF). CAF.
23. "Squad List finalized". CAF. 16 November 2018.
24. "Squad lists" (PDF). CAF.
25. "Referees step up preparations for Ghana 2018". CAF. 16 October 2018.
26. "List of pre-selected referees" (PDF). CAF.
27. "Accreditation for official draw and final tournament". CAF. 8 October 2018.
28. "Finalists learn their fate in balanced draw". CAF. 21 October 2018.
29. "Ghana, Nigeria named top seeds". CAF. 21 October 2018.
30. "PROCEDURE OF THE DRAW OF THE FINAL TOURNAMENT TOTAL WOMEN'S AFCON-GHANA 2018" (PDF). CAF.
31. "Fixtures AWCON 2018" (PDF). CAF.
32. "KGATLANA NAMED TOTAL WOMAN OF THE COMPETITION". CAF. 2 December 2018.
33. ^ "Nigeria and history-making South Africa secure France 2019 qualification". FIFA.com. 27 November 2018.
34. "Cameroon secure their berth for France 2019". FIFA.com. 30 November 2018.

External links

• 2018 Women's Africa Cup of Nations Ghana
• Total Women's Africa Cup Of Nations, CAFonline.com

• 2018 Women's Africa Cup of Nations
• Women's Africa Cup of Nations tournaments
• 2018 in African football
• 2018 in women's association football
• 2017–18 in Ghanaian football
• International association football competitions hosted by Ghana
• 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification
• November 2018 sports events in Africa
• December 2018 sports events in Africa
• Cameroon at the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup
• Nigeria at the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup
• South Africa at the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup