This will be the 15th time that Africa’s women battle it out to be crowned continental champions.

However, the history and formats of previous competitions are far from straightforward. 

The 2024 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (Wafcon) - which was postponed until this year because of scheduling problems - sees 12 nations compete for the title in Morocco, where 26 games will take place at six venues spread across five cities.

THE HISTORY

The inaugural African Women’s Championship was organised in 1991 to determine the continent’s sole qualifier for Fifa’s first ever Women’s World Cup. Eight teams were supposed to take part in a knockout format using home-and-away ties, but four nations withdrew and Cameroon reached the final without playing a game.

Nigeria thrashed the Indomitable Lionesses 6-0 on aggregate to become maiden champions of Africa. Four years later, the Super Falcons triumphed again by hammering South Africa 11-2 over two legs in the final.

However, those first two competitions are not traditionally considered part of Wafcon history (and are therefore not included in the statistics in this article). That begins in 1998 when the tournament became a biennial eight-team event held in one host country, with a group stage introduced.

Nigeria welcomed the continent for the first edition and reigned supreme - and no-one could topple the West Africans in 2000, 2002, 2004 and 2006 either. Only in 2008 were the Super Falcons finally dethroned by that year’s hosts Equatorial Guinea.

It was not until 2016 that the tournament changed its name to the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations, bringing it into line with the equivalent men’s competition.

The 2020 edition never took place because of the coronavirus pandemic. When an expanded Wafcon returned in 2022, now featuring 12 teams, a new winner appeared in the form of South Africa, who beat hosts Morocco to wipe away the hurt of four previous defeats in the final.