Africa Cup of Women 2018 / Qualification

The qualification for the African Cup of women in 2018 was to begin on February 26 2018th The start was then postponed to the beginning of April 2018. 24 of the 53 CAF member associations had registered a team for qualification, including the team from Gambia for the first time. In the end, only 23 teams took part. The qualification was also the first stage for the African teams in qualifying for the 2019 Women's World Cup . The African Championship is then the second stage and there three teams can qualify for the World Cup.

Background and mode

The team of Equatorial Guinea was initially excluded from participating in the qualification. This decision was reversed in July 2017 and the team was therefore taken into account in the qualification. However, due to an ongoing suspension by FIFA , Equatorial Guinea cannot qualify for the 2019 Women's World Cup.

The qualification was played in two rounds in a knockout system with a return leg. The 20 weaker nations met in the first round. In the second round with the four seeded teams, the winners determined the seven qualifiers for the Africa Cup of Women.

Teams

Seeded teams 1	Attendees	Attendees
Nigeria (35th) Cameroon (47th) Equatorial Guinea (51st) South Africa (52nd)	Algeria Ethiopia Burkina Faso Ivory Coast Gambia Kenya Republic of the Congo Lesotho Libya Mali	Morocco Namibia Zambia Senegal Sierra Leone Zimbabwe Swaziland Tanzania Uganda Central African Republic

¹ The four best teams in the world rankings received a bye in round 1

qualification

First round

The qualifiers took place between April 4 and 10, 2018.

	total		First leg	Return leg
Senegal	2: 3	Algeria	2: 1	0: 2
Libya	00:15	Ethiopia	0: 8	0: 7
Morocco	(a)1: 1 ( a )	Ivory Coast	1: 1	0-0
Sierra Leone 1		Mali
Burkina Faso	3: 3 (3: 5 in good condition)	Gambia	2: 1	1: 2 a.d.
Republic of the Congo	3-0	Central African Republic	2-0	1-0
Kenya	1-0	Uganda	1-0	0-0
Lesotho	3: 1	Swaziland	1-0	2: 1
Tanzania	(a)4: 4 ( a )	Zambia	3: 3	1: 1
Namibia	0: 4	Zimbabwe	0: 2	0: 2

¹ Sierra Leone has withdrawn

Second round

The qualifiers took place between June 6th and 11th, 2018.

	total		First leg	Return leg
Algeria	6: 3	Ethiopia	3: 1	3: 2
Ivory Coast	(a)2: 2 ( a )	Mali	2: 2	0-0
Gambia	0: 7	Nigeria	0: 1	0: 6
Republic of the Congo	00:10	Cameroon	0: 5	0: 5
Kenya 1	2: 3	Equatorial Guinea	2: 1	0: 2
Lesotho	0: 7	South Africa	0: 1	0: 6
Zambia	( a ) 2: 2(a)	Zimbabwe	0: 1	2: 1

¹Kenya was initially awarded the starting place in the finals due to the disqualification of Equatorial Guinea . This decision was later reversed, so that Equatorial Guinea took part in the finals.

Best goalscorers

rank	Player	Gates
1	Loza Abera	8th
2	Rehima Zergaw	4th
	Desire Oparanoia	4th
	Jermaine Seoposenwe	4th
5	Fatima Sekouane	3
	Salimata Simpore	3
	Gabrielle Onguéné	3
	Barbara Banda	3
9	Myriam Benlazar	2
	Thérèse Abena	2
	Ajara Nchout	2
	Adolphine Dembélé	2
	Asisat Oshoala	2
	Mavis Chirandu	2
	Marjory Nyaumwe	2
	Chantelle Esau	2
	Asha Rashid	2
19th	42 players	1

• Players in bold are qualified for the Africa Cup with their teams
• Players in italics are eliminated with their teams in the first round of qualification .
• In addition, an own goal by Kouanda (Burkina Faso) against Gambia.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ DECISIONS OF THE CAF EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE OF 14 MARCH 2017. CAF, March 14, 2017.
2. ↑ Nigeria draw bye in 2018 Women's AFCON qualifiers . busybuddiesng.com. October 4, 2017. Retrieved October 12, 2017.
3. ^ Equatorial Guinea disqualified, Mali in . CAF. 4th August 2016.
4. ↑ Equatorial Guinea banned from 2019 Women's World Cup . BBC. October 6, 2017.
5. ↑ Equatorial Guinea expelled from FIFA Women's World Cup France 2019 . FIFA.com. 5th October 2017.
6. ↑ cafonline.com: Kenya through, Equatorial Guinea disqualified
7. ↑ footballkenya.org: Harambee Starlets appeal against Equatorial Guinea upheld, Kenya set to grace AWCON