2026 Women's Africa Cup of Nations qualification

The 2026 Women's Africa Cup of Nations qualification is a women's football competition that will determine the 11 teams joining the automatically qualified host Morocco in the 2026 Women's Africa Cup of Nations final tournament.^[1]

The African qualifiers are set to commence in February 2025 and will feature two rounds of competition. In the first round, the 32 teams ranked 7th and below will play home-and-away two-legged ties. The 16 winners will advance to the second round, where they will be joined by the 6 teams that received a bye. The winners of the 11 second round home-and-away ties will qualify for the final tournament in Morocco.

If the aggregate score is tied after the second leg, the away goals rule will have been applied, and if still tied, a penalty shoot-out will be held (no extra time).^{[2][needs update]}

Round	Dates
First round	19–26 February 2025
Second round	20–28 October 2025

All 53 CAF national teams were eligible to enter the competition; however, excluding Morocco, who qualified automatically as hosts of the final tournament, 38 teams registered for the qualifying tournament. The six highest-ranked teams based on FIFA rankings received a bye to the second round. In the first round, the teams are split into 16 higher-ranked and 16 less-ranked.^[3]

Final tournament hosts

Team	Rank
Morocco	59

Teams entering qualifying rounds

Bye to second round Team Rank  Nigeria 36  South Africa 50  Zambia 62  Ghana 66  Cameroon 69  Ivory Coast 71

First round seeded teams Team Rank  Tunisia 78  Mali 81  Equatorial Guinea 82  Senegal 83  Algeria 84  Egypt 93  DR Congo 102  Congo 112  Togo 120  Ethiopia 123  Zimbabwe 124  Namibia 125  Gambia 127  Cape Verde 130  Burkina Faso 136  Sierra Leone 141

First round unseeded teams Team Rank  Guinea 142  Gabon 143  Tanzania 145  Angola 148  Uganda 150  Kenya 151  Benin 152  Botswana 153  Malawi 156  Niger 166  Rwanda 167  Burundi 178  Eswatini 182  South Sudan 192  Chad NR  Djibouti NR

Did not enter

Team	Rank
Central African Republic	144
Liberia	165
Seychelles	170
Mozambique	171
Lesotho	176
Guinea-Bissau	177
Comoros	188
Madagascar	190
Mauritius	194
Libya	NR
Eritrea	NR
Sudan	NR
Mauritania	NR
São Tomé and Príncipe	NR

The 32 teams playing in the first round were allocated into six pots based on their FIFA Ranking (three pots of the highest-ranked teams and three of the 16 lower-ranked teams), as well as regional and geographical considerations, with neighboring zones paired together where possible according to the number of teams. The seedings, pots, and draw procedure were confirmed by CAF on 12 December 2024.^[3][4]

Pot 1 / Unseeded (COSAFA & CECAFA) Team Rank  Angola 151  Botswana 153  Malawi 156  Eswatini 182  Tanzania 145  Uganda 148

Pot 2 / Seeded (COSAFA, CECAFA & UNIFFAC) Team Rank  Ethiopia 124  Zimbabwe 127  Namibia 122  Equatorial Guinea 82  DR Congo 109  Congo 112

Pot 3 / Unseeded (CECAFA) Team Rank  Kenya 149  Rwanda 168  Burundi 178  South Sudan 193  Djibouti NR

Pot 4 / Seeded (UNAF & WAFU B) Team Rank  Tunisia 78  Algeria 84  Egypt 92  Togo 120  Burkina Faso 137

Pot 5 / Unseeded (WAFU & UNIFFAC) Team Rank  Guinea 142  Benin 152  Niger 167  Gabon 143  Chad NR

Pot 6 / Seeded (WAFU A) Team Rank  Mali 81  Senegal 83  Gambia 126  Cape Verde 129  Sierra Leone 141

The draw for the 2026 Women's Africa Cup of Nations Qualifiers took place on 12 December 2024 at 12:00 GMT.

Team 1	Agg. Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Angola	3–3 (5–4 p)	Zimbabwe	2–1	1–2
Malawi	w/o	Congo	—	—
Botswana	0–2	DR Congo	0–2	0–0
Tanzania	4–2	Equatorial Guinea	3–1	1–1
Uganda	2–2 (4–5 p)	Ethiopia	2–0	0–2
Eswatini	0–4	Namibia	0–3	0–1
Burundi	1–5	Burkina Faso	0–1	1–4
Djibouti	0–10	Togo	0–5	0–5
South Sudan	0–8	Algeria	0–5	0–3
Rwanda	2–3	Egypt	0–1	2–2
Kenya	1–0	Tunisia	0–0	1–0
Niger	1–4	Gambia	0–2	1–2
Benin	5–2	Sierra Leone	2–1	3–1
Guinea	3–6	Cape Verde	2–2	1–4
Gabon	1–10	Mali	0–6	1–4
Chad	w/o	Senegal	—	—

3–3 on aggregate. Angola won 5–4 on penalties.

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Malawi won on walkover and advanced to the second round after Congo withdrew prior to the first leg due to a lack of competitions and preparation.^[5]

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DR Congo won 2–0 on aggregate.

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Tanzania won 4–2 on aggregate.

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2–2 on aggregate. Ethiopia won 5–4 on penalties.

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Namibia won 4–0 on aggregate.

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Burkina Faso won 5–1 on aggregate.

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Togo won 10–0 on aggregate.

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Algeria won 8–0 on aggregate.

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Egypt won 3–2 on aggregate.

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Kenya won 1–0 on aggregate.

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Gambia won 4–1 on aggregate.

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Benin won 5–2 on aggregate.

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Cape Verde won 6–3 on aggregate.

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Mali won 10–1 on aggregate.

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Senegal won on walkover and advanced to the second round after Chad withdrew prior to the first leg due to delays in the disbursement process of the funds needed for match preparations and lack of funding.^[6]

Team 1	Agg. Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Angola		Malawi	Oct '25	Oct '25
DR Congo		South Africa	Oct '25	Oct '25
Tanzania		Ethiopia	Oct '25	Oct '25
Namibia		Zambia	Oct '25	Oct '25
Burkina Faso		Togo	Oct '25	Oct '25
Algeria		Cameroon	Oct '25	Oct '25
Egypt		Ghana	Oct '25	Oct '25
Kenya		Gambia	Oct '25	Oct '25
Benin		Nigeria	Oct '25	Oct '25
Cape Verde		Mali	Oct '25	Oct '25
Senegal		Ivory Coast	Oct '25	Oct '25

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There have been 84 goals scored in 28 matches, for an average of 3 goals per match (as of 26 February 2025). Players highlighted in bold are still active in the competition.

3 goals

2 goals

1 goal

1 own goal