| Tourney Name: | Women's Africa Cup of Nations |
| Year: | 2022 |
| Size: | 175px |
| Country: | Morocco |
| Dates: | 2–23 July |
| Num Teams: | 12 |
| Venues: | 3 |
| Cities: | 2 |
| Count: | 1 |
| Matches: | 28 |
| Goals: | 63 |
| Top Scorer: | Rasheedat Ajibade Hildah Magaia (3 goals each) |
| Player: | Ghizlane Chebbak |
| Goalkeeper: | Andile Dlamini |
| Nextseason: | 2024 |
The 2022 Women's Africa Cup of Nations (ar|كأس الأمم الإفريقية للسيدات 2022, fr|Coupe d'Afrique des nations féminine 2022), (also referred to as WAFCON 2022) officially known as the 2022 TotalEnergies Women's Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship purposes, was the 14th edition of the biennial African international women's football tournament organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF), hosted by Morocco from 2 to 23 July 2022.[1] [2]
The tournament also doubled as the African qualifiers to the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup. The top four teams qualified for the World Cup, and two more teams advanced to the inter-confederation play-offs.[3]
Nigeria were the three-time defending champions, having won the previous 3 editions in 2014, 2016 and 2018; but had its journey ended in the semi-finals after losing to the hosts Morocco on penalties, making it for the first time neither Nigeria or Equatorial Guinea featured in the final. The hosts went on to lose to South Africa in the final, as South Africa claimed its first ever continental trophy after five previous attempts. With this triumph, South Africa joined Nigeria as the only countries to have won both the men's and women's competition.
This was the first edition to feature 12 teams as the 2020 edition, which would have been the first, was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Africa. The Morocco vs Nigeria semi-final broke the WAFCON attendance records with 45,562 spectators.[4]
Morocco were announced as hosts on 15 January 2021.[2] This is the first time a North African Arab country has hosted the Women's Africa Cup of Nations.
The mascot for this edition of the tournament was unveiled as "TITRIT" (a Moroccan Berber name meaning "star" or "celebrity"), a young lioness clothed with the home jersey of the host nation's national football team, with a traditional Moroccan tiara.[5]
See main article: 2022 Women's Africa Cup of Nations qualification.
Morocco qualified automatically as hosts, while the remaining eleven spots were determined by the qualifying rounds.
| Team | Finals appearance | Last appearance | Date of qualification | Previous best performance | Previous World Cup appearances | FIFA ranking at start of event | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (hosts) | 3rd | 15 January 2021 | (1998, 2000) | 0 | 77 | ||
| 2nd | 28 January 2022 | (2000) | 0 | 156 | |||
| 1st | — | 21 February 2022 | 0 | 169 | |||
| 4th | 22 February 2022 | (1995) | 0 | 103 | |||
| 2nd | 22 February 2022 | (2012) | 0 | 89 | |||
| 1st | — | 23 February 2022 | 0 | 118 | |||
| 14th | 23 February 2022 | (1991, 1995, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2010, 2014, 2016, 2018) | 8 | 39 | |||
| 2nd | 23 February 2022 | (2008) | 0 | 72 | |||
| 1st | — | 23 February 2022 | 0 | 138 | |||
| 1st | — | 23 February 2022 | 0 | 152 | |||
| 13th | 23 February 2022 | (1991, 2004, 2014, 2016) | 2 | 54 | |||
| 13th | 23 February 2022 | (1995, 2000, 2008, 2012, 2018) | 1 | 58 |
The tournament was held in Casablanca and Rabat.
| Morocco | Rabat | Casablanca | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium | Stade Moulay Hassan | Stade Mohammed V | |
| Capacity: 50,000 | Capacity: 12,000 | Capacity: 45,891 | |
See main article: 2022 Women's Africa Cup of Nations squads.
A total of 16 referees, 16 assistant referees and 8 VAR referees were appointed for the tournament.[6] [7]
Originally, Fatima El Ajjani (Morocco) was assigned as video assistant referee only. However, she was assigned as principal referee during the tournament after Aïssata Boudy Lam (Mauritania) sustained an injury.
CAF released the official match schedule for the tournament on 29 April 2022.[10] The top two teams of each group, along with the best two third-placed teams, advanced to the quarter-finals.
If two teams were tied on points, the following tiebreaking criteria were applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings (Regulations Article 74):[11]
If more than two teams were tied, the following criteria were applied instead:
See main article: 2022 Women's Africa Cup of Nations Group A.
--------
See main article: 2022 Women's Africa Cup of Nations Group B.
--------
--------
See main article: 2022 Women's Africa Cup of Nations knockout stage.
The winners qualified for the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup. The losers entered a repechage round.
------------
The winners advanced to the inter-confederation play-offs.
----
----
See main article: 2022 Women's Africa Cup of Nations Final.
The following awards were given at the conclusion of the tournament:[12]
| Award | Winner | |
|---|---|---|
| Best player | Ghizlane Chebbak | |
| Best goalkeeper | Andile Dlamini | |
| Top scorer | Ghizlane Chebbak Rasheedat Ajibade Hildah Magaia | |
| Fair Play |
| +Best XI[13] | ||||||||
| Goalkeeper | Defenders | Midfielders | Forwards | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| valign=top | Andile Dlamini | valign=top | valign=top | valign=top |
The following teams will represent Africa directly at the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup, while two more teams will have opportunities to join them through the inter-confederation playoffs.
| Team | Qualified on | data-sort-type="number" | Previous appearances in FIFA Women's World Cup1 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 (debut) | |||
| 0 (debut) | |||
| 8 (1991, 1995, 1999, 2003, 2007, 2011, 2015, 2019) | |||
| 1 (2019) |
1 Bold indicates champions for that year. Italic indicates hosts for that year.