2016 Women's Africa Cup of Nations explained

Tourney Name:	Women's Africa Cup of Nations
Year:	2016
Other Titles:	Coupe d'Afrique des nations féminine de football 2016
Size:	200px
Country:	Cameroon
Num Teams:	8
Venues:	2
Cities:	2
Count:	10
Matches:	16
Goals:	39
Player:	Gabrielle Onguéné
Prevseason:	2014
Nextseason:	2018

The 2016 Women's Africa Cup of Nations was the 12th edition of the biennial African women's association football tournament organized by the Confederation of African Football that was held in Cameroon.^[1] Originally scheduled to be held between 8 and 22 October 2016, it was delayed to between 19 November and 3 December 2016 due to weather considerations.^[2]

On 6 August 2015, the CAF Executive Committee announced a tournament name change from the African Women's Championship to the African Women Cup of Nations, similar to the male Africa Cup of Nations.^[3] However, CAF alternated this tournament's official logo between the original name and the new name, the Women/Women's Africa Cup of Nations or Women/Women's AFCON.

Qualification

See main article: 2016 Women's Africa Cup of Nations qualification.

Hosts Cameroon qualified automatically, while the remaining seven spots were determined by the qualification rounds which took place between March and April 2016.

Qualified teams

The following eight teams qualified for the group stage. Mali protested to CAF about Equatorial Guinea fielding an ineligible player in their qualifier; CAF thus disqualified the latter and had the former replace them at the group stage.^[4]

Team	Appearance	Previous best appearance	^[5]
(hosts)		(1991, 2004, 2014)	47
		(1998)	80
		(1998, 2002, 2006)	46
			132
		(2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010)	92
		(1991, 1995, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2010, 2014)	37
		(1995, 2000, 2008, 2012)	48
		(2000)	94

Venues

This edition of the tournament took place in Yaoundé and Limbe.

Yaoundé		Limbe
Stade Ahmadou Ahidjo		Limbe Omnisports Stadium
Capacity: 42,500		Capacity: 20,000

Squads

See main article: 2016 Women's Africa Cup of Nations squads.

Each participating team's squad contained a maximum of 21 players.^[6]

Draw

The draw for the group stage took place at the Palais Polyvalent des Sports in Yaoundé on 18 September 2016 at 16:00 WAT (UTC+1).^[7] The eight teams were drawn into two groups of four.^[8] For the draw, hosts Cameroon were seeded in position A1 and the defending champions Nigeria were seeded in position B1, with the remaining six teams seeded based on their results in the preceding three tournament editions.^[9]

Group stage

The fixtures were released on 3 November 2015.^[10] The top two teams of each group advance to the semi-finals.

TiebreakersThe teams are ranked according to the three points for a win system; 3 for a win, 1 for a draw and none for a loss. If tied on points, the following tiebreakers are applied in the following order:

1. Number of points obtained in games between the teams concerned;
2. Goal difference in games between the teams concerned;
3. Goals scored in games between the teams concerned;
4. If, after applying criteria 1 to 3 to several teams, two teams still have an equal ranking, criteria 1 to 3 are reapplied exclusively to the matches between the two teams in question to determine their final rankings. If this procedure does not lead to a decision, criteria 5 to 7 apply;
5. Goal difference in all games;
6. Goals scored in all games;
7. Drawing of lots.

All times are local, WAT (UTC+1).^[11]

Group A

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Group B

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Knockout stage

At this stage, if a match has its scores level at the end of 90 minutes, extra time except for the third place match and followed, if necessary, by a penalty shoot-out

Semi-finals

----

Final

Goalscorers

6 goals

• Asisat Oshoala

3 goals

• Elizabeth Addo
• Desire Oparanozie

2 goals

• Henriette Akaba
• Linda Eshun
• Samira Suleman
• Bassira Touré

1 goal

• Raissa Feudjio
• Christine Manie
• Genevieve Ngo
• Gabrielle Onguéné
• Salma Tarik
• Portia Boakye
• Esse Akida
• Cheris Salano
• Sebe Coulibaly
• Binta Diarra
• Faith Ikidi
• Ngozi Okobi
• Francisca Ordega
• Uchechi Sunday
• Refiloe Jane
• Andisiwe Mgcoyi
• Linda Motlhalo
• Jermaine Seoposenwe
• Nothando Vilakazi

Awards

The following awards were given at the conclusion of this edition of the tournament:^[12]

Award	Winner
Best player	Gabrielle Onguéné
Top scorer	Asisat Oshoala
Fair Play award

+Best XI
Position	Players
Goalkeeper	Annette Ngo Ndom
Defenders	Osinachi Ohale Janine van Wyk Linda Eshun
Midfielders	Jermaine Seoposenwe Raissa Feudjio Elizabeth Addo Gabrielle Onguéné
Forwards	Desire Oparanozie Asisat Oshoala
Substitutes	Alaba Jonathan Francisca Ordega Portia Boakye Nothando Vilakazi

External links

• (archived)
• (archived) at CAFOnline.com

Notes and References

1. Web site: 26 October 2014. AWC 2016: From Namibia to Cameroon. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20230620190017/https://www.cafonline.com/news-center/news/awc-2016-from-namibia-to-cameroon. 20 June 2023. CAFOnline.com. 26 October 2019.
2. Web site: 27 May 2015. CAF Executive Committee decisions of 26 May 2015. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20230206203849/https://www.cafonline.com/news-center/news/caf-executive-committee-decisions-of-26-may-2015. 6 February 2023. CAFOnline.com. 27 September 2019. Read the second paragraph for its details..
3. Web site: 9 August 2015. Decisions of CAF Executive Committee on 6 August 2015. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20230620190017/https://www.cafonline.com/news-center/news/awc-2016-from-namibia-to-cameroon. 20 June 2023. CAFOnline.com. 9 August 2021.
4. Web site: 4 August 2016. Equatorial Guinea disqualified, Mali in. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20230206203852/https://www.cafonline.com/news-center/news/equatorial-guinea-disqualified. 6 February 2023. CAFOnline.com. 13 August 2021.
5. Web site: Women's Ranking, 26 August 2016 (CAF). dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20161130190441/http://www.fifa.com/fifa-world-ranking/ranking-table/women/rank=555/caf.html. 30 November 2016. FIFA.com. 23 September 2016.
6. Web site: 29 February 2016. Regulations of the Women Africa Cup of Nations. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20161220041909/http://www.cafonline.com/Portals/0/Regulations%20and%20Official%20Documents/Competitions%20Regulation/Regulations%20CAN%20Women%202016English.pdf. 20 December 2016. CAFOnline.com. 20 September 2017.
7. Web site: 27 August 2016. Accreditation for the Draw of the Final Tournament of the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations Cameroon 2016. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20170224090912/http://www.cafonline.com/en-US/NewsCenter/News/NewsDetails?id=bGhbEGw1EDMBwPTihv1I2g%3d%3d. 24 February 2017. CAFOnline.com. 20 September 2016.
8. Web site: Results of the draw of 10th Women's AFCON. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20230206203847/https://www.cafonline.com/news-center/news/results-of-the-draw-of-10th-women-s-afcon. 6 February 2023. 18 September 2016. CAFOnline.com. 20 September 2022.
9. Web site: 15 May 2016. Draw procedure for the 10th Women's Africa Cup of Nations Cameroon 2016. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20161018193757/http://www.cafonline.com/Portals/0/draw%20procedure%20English.pdf. 18 October 2016. CAFOnline.com. 20 September 2016.
10. Web site: 3 November 2015. Fixtures for Women AFCON 2016 & Africa Futsal Cup of Nations 2016. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20161120043109/http://www.cafonline.com/en-US/NewsCenter/News/NewsDetails?id=Q3ay4C600DGCAbC7zcwmaQ%3D%3D. 20 November 2016. CAFOnline.com. 3 November 2019.
11. Web site: Heba. 20 September 2016. Fixtures of the Final Tournament of the 10th Women's AFCON. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20161220140731/http://www.cafonline.com/Portals/0/Women's%20FT%20Fixtures.pdf. 20 December 2016. CAFOnline.com. 20 September 2016.
12. Web site: 4 December 2016. Women’s AFCON 2016: Awards. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20230206203854/https://www.cafonline.com/news-center/news/women-s-afcon-2016-awards. 6 February 2023. CAFOnline.com. 4 December 2019.