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𝙉𝙚𝙬𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝘿𝙖𝙮 🗞️

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐈𝐧𝐝𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐋𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐐𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐖𝐀𝐅𝐂𝐎𝐍 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟔 🇨🇲🔥

The CAF has confirmed the expansion of the Women's Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) from 12 to 16 teams starting with the 2026 edition. 🏆

👉 As a result, the four highest-ranked nations in the FIFA standings among those eliminated in the final round of qualifiers will be reinstated to complete the list of 16 participating teams.

💚 Among them is Cameroon, ranked 66th in the world ranking! 🇨🇲

The Indomitable Lionesses thus join Côte d’Ivoire 🇨🇮 , Mali 🇲🇱, and Egypt 🇪🇬 on the list of qualified teams.

This expansion not only preserves Cameroon's proud record of participation at the top level but also aligns with CAF's broader vision to enhance competitiveness and inclusivity in women's football across Africa.

Deltamani:
𝙉𝙚𝙬𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝘿𝙖𝙮 🗞️

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐈𝐧𝐝𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐋𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐐𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐖𝐀𝐅𝐂𝐎𝐍 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟔 🇨🇲🔥

The CAF has confirmed the expansion of the Women's Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) from 12 to 16 teams starting with the 2026 edition. 🏆

👉 As a result, the four highest-ranked nations in the FIFA standings among those eliminated in the final round of qualifiers will be reinstated to complete the list of 16 participating teams.

💚 Among them is Cameroon, ranked 66th in the world ranking! 🇨🇲

The Indomitable Lionesses thus join Côte d’Ivoire 🇨🇮 , Mali 🇲🇱, and Egypt 🇪🇬 on the list of qualified teams.

This expansion not only preserves Cameroon's proud record of participation at the top level but also aligns with CAF's broader vision to enhance competitiveness and inclusivity in women's football across Africa.

Expected this, 16 teams is a very good one.

Deltamani:
𝙉𝙚𝙬𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝘿𝙖𝙮 🗞️

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐈𝐧𝐝𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐋𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐐𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐖𝐀𝐅𝐂𝐎𝐍 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟔 🇨🇲🔥

The CAF has confirmed the expansion of the Women's Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) from 12 to 16 teams starting with the 2026 edition. 🏆

👉 As a result, the four highest-ranked nations in the FIFA standings among those eliminated in the final round of qualifiers will be reinstated to complete the list of 16 participating teams.

💚 Among them is Cameroon, ranked 66th in the world ranking! 🇨🇲

The Indomitable Lionesses thus join Côte d’Ivoire 🇨🇮 , Mali 🇲🇱, and Egypt 🇪🇬 on the list of qualified teams.

This expansion not only preserves Cameroon's proud record of participation at the top level but also aligns with CAF's broader vision to enhance competitiveness and inclusivity in women's football across Africa.

This 2026 WAFCON will be tough for sure!!

West Africa is parading 6 teams as it stands, if you include Cameroon and Cape Verde that are close neighbors it becomes 8 though..!

1• Nigeria 🇳🇬
2• Ghana 🇬🇭
3• Cote’d’ivoire 🇨🇮
4• Senegal 🇸🇳
5• Mali 🇲🇱
6• Burkina Faso 🇧🇫


7• Cameroon 🇨🇲
8• Cape Verde 🇨🇻

I want to see some beautiful and Physical football though..!

mosdii:
Expected this, 16 teams is a very good one.

Top 4 seeding for the Group Stage should be Morocco as Host, Nigeria Defending Champions, South Africa and Zambia as 2nd and 4th place ranked team in Africa..


4 teams to qualify for the World Cup

1• Nigeria
2• Morocco
3• South Africa
4• Ghana

Among this 5 teams two will be Best losers to go for Intercontinental playoff

1• Cote’d’ivoire
2• Cameroon
3• Algeria
4• Senegal
5• Zambia

Deltamani:
Top 4 seeding for the Group Stage should be Morocco as Host, Nigeria Defending Champions, South Africa and Zambia as 2nd and 4th place ranked team in Africa..


4 teams to qualify for the World Cup

1• Nigeria
2• Morocco
3• South Africa
4• Ghana

Among this 5 teams two will be Best losers to go for Intercontinental playoff

The women's world cup is still 32 teams?

1• Cote’d’ivoire
2• Cameroon
3• Algeria
4• Senegal
5• Zambia

The women's world cup is it still 32 teams?

mosdii:
The women's world cup is it still 32 teams?

Yes!!

This will be the second and last edition of the tournament to be contested by 32 teams, with FIFA confirming an expansion to 48 teams for the next edition in 2031..

Why is Egypt selected ahead of Benin?? They were so poor vs Ghana. Benin can actually play and give the big girls a hard time. Makes no sense.

Predator87:
Why is Egypt selected ahead of Benin?? They were so poor vs Ghana. Benin can actually play and give the big girls a hard time. Makes no sense.

The remaining 4 teams were picked due to their position in the FIFA Women World Rankings..!
Maybe Benin 🇧🇯 need to do better in the Rankings.

Deltamani:
The remaining 4 teams were picked due to their position in the FIFA Women World Rankings..!
Maybe Benin 🇧🇯 need to do better in the Rankings.

It should not be based on rankings but on the field ability. Benin W will wipe the floor with Egypt Women home and away. They performed better tthan the 4 selected teams. Lost only 2-0 and then drew 1-1 with the defending # 1 ranked African team. But i am not surprised. This tournament is organized by the most corrupt and incompetent continental confederation in FIFA...CAF.

Deltamani:
This 2026 WAFCON will be tough for sure!!

West Africa is parading 6 teams as it stands, if you include Cameroon and Cape Verde that are close neighbors it becomes 8 though..!

1• Nigeria 🇳🇬
2• Ghana 🇬🇭
3• Cote’d’ivoire 🇨🇮
4• Senegal 🇸🇳
5• Mali 🇲🇱
6• Burkina Faso 🇧🇫


7• Cameroon 🇨🇲
8• Cape Verde 🇨🇻

I want to see some beautiful and Physical football though..!

Cape Verde 🇨🇻 is a bonafide West African country, so there will be 7 West African teams

PDPGuy:
Cape Verde 🇨🇻 is a bonafide West African country, so there will be 7 West African teams

Morocco
Nigeria
South Africa
Ghana

These may be the top seeded teams

solonnachi:
Morocco
Nigeria
South Africa
Ghana

These may be the top seeded teams

I think Zambia is ahead of Ghana in the FIFA World Rankings right now..

1st Nigeria 🇳🇬
2nd South Africa 🇿🇦
3rd and Host Morocco 🇲🇦
4th Zambia 🇿🇲

Predator87:
It should not be based on rankings but on the field ability. Benin W will wipe the floor with Egypt Women home and away. They performed better tthan the 4 selected teams. Lost only 2-0 and then drew 1-1 with the defending # 1 ranked African team. But i am not surprised. This tournament is organized by the most corrupt and incompetent continental confederation in FIFA...CAF.

As much as I think Benin deserve a chance to compete, I sincerely do not have a problem with this. You have to understand that amongst other things, rankings are reflective of a nations cumulative contribution to the sports. Women's Sports haven't always garnered equal support from all countries. While many chose not to invest in their women's game, a few in Africa have consistently showed up year in year out, putting in the work (no matter how mediocre) to ensure their team's participation in women's football sporting events while others will rather pull out and not participate at all.

Using this ranking in some way rewards those years of investments in women's football. It's obviously not a perfect metric but I sincerely don't mind it. I believe another consideration CAF had is organising another qualifying tournament will mean more expenditure on the part of the FAs and most quite frankly already have money issues.

lovewins:
As much as I think Benin deserve a chance to compete, I sincerely do not have a problem with this. You have to understand that amongst other things, rankings are reflective of a nations cumulative contribution to the sports. Women's Sports haven't always garnered equal support from all countries. While many chose not to invest in their women's game, a few in Africa have consistently showed up year in year out, putting in the work (no matter how mediocre) to ensure their team's participation in women's football sporting events while others will rather pull out and not participate at all.

Using this ranking in some way rewards those years of investments in women's football. It's obviously not a perfect metric but I sincerely don't mind it. I believe another consideration CAF had is organising another qualifying tournament will mean more expenditure on the part of the FAs and most quite frankly already have money issues.

You have a good point but again CAF isn’t fair enough considering there’s still enough time to go into playoffs just as the European and other continents do for them all to have an equal chance of qualifying..

In all it Favour’s our fellow West Africans ( Mali and Cote’d’ivoire ) and neighbors Cameroon. So is a big win and time to prove to CAF that West Africa rules when it comes to Africa Women’s Football..

Edna Imade better rethink and come play for Nigeria instead of Spain because with the SuperFalcons she stands a chance of leading the attack as the first choice top9 while in Spain she will share minutes with big guns like Esther, Salma, Alba Redondo etc..

Edna Imade. Anyway, perhaps she would rather get small gametime and be World or Euro Champ rather than get all the gametime and not have a chance at becoming any of those aside African Champ. Time will tell.

Deltamani:
Edna Imade better rethink and come play for Nigeria instead of Spain because with the SuperFalcons she stands a chance of leading the attack as the first choice top9 while in Spain she will share minutes with big guns like Esther, Salma, Alba Redondo etc..

Deltamani:
Edna Imade better rethink and come play for Nigeria instead of Spain because with the SuperFalcons she stands a chance of leading the attack as the first choice top9 while in Spain she will share minutes with big guns like Esther, Salma, Alba Redondo etc..

She has the quality to make the Spanish team consistently.

BascoVanVeli:
She has the quality to make the Spanish team consistently.

Of course but with the SuperFalcons I don’t think we have a better option at no.9

She brings in that kind of Desire Oparanozie vibe upfront just that she’s faster and taller.

I have a contrary view...
This will send a message to African countries that they need to take female football more seriously and pay attention to their rankings. That is what all the other countries around the world are doing and we always see African teams at the tail end of the FIFA rankings because they take female football for granted.
Hopefully, this will drive Africa countries to play more friendlies during the FIFA calendar windows to not only strengthen their squads, but also amass FIFA ranking points.

Deltamani:
You have a good point but again CAF isn’t fair enough considering there’s still enough time to go into playoffs just as the European and other continents do for them all to have an equal chance of qualifying..

In all it Favour’s our fellow West Africans ( Mali and Cote’d’ivoire ) and neighbors Cameroon. So is a big win and time to prove to CAF that West Africa rules when it comes to Africa Women’s Football..

solonnachi:
Morocco
Nigeria
South Africa
Ghana

These may be the top seeded teams

True. But I may substitute Ghana with Zambia

Chiamaka Nnadozie Nominated For FIFA The Best Women's Goalkeeper
https://www.nairaland.com/8556095/chiamaka-nnadozie-nominated-fifa-best

She does. But the question is will Sonia Bermudez play her consistently?

Thing is considering it was Sonia herself who commented in a presser before their Nations League Semis, on how close Imade is to become a la roja, then yeah, the signs are good for Imade being integrated quickly. In the end, time will tell.

BascoVanVeli:
She has the quality to make the Spanish team consistently.

TheSuperNerd:
She does. But the question is will Sonia Bermudez play her consistently?

Thing is considering it was Sonia herself who commented in a presser before their Nations League Semis, on how close Imade is to become a la roja, then yeah, the signs are good for Imade being integrated quickly. In the end, time will tell.

I think the risk of not getting game time goes both ways. We just saw what Madugu did with Gift Monday.

A classless move on his part with regards Gift Monday.
It is obvious that he has a personal vendetta against her. His excuse about 'better players' is a load of BS!
He also did the same for Toni Payne, freezing her out, after the Tunisia game, simply because she challenged his strategic approach to the game.

Regarding Edna, Magudu had the perfect opportunity to invite her to the game against France, but chose to ignore her and taking some of his HB scrubs instead. At that time, Edna was not yet in the spotlight or on the Spanish radar at the time, and was very enthusiastic about playing for the SF. Of course, he botched it and then everything changed when Bayern Munich signed her.
Now, he is saying that he tried calling her and she is not picking up. Why should she?

BascoVanVeli:
I think the risk of not getting game time goes both ways. We just saw what Madugu did with Gift Monday.

AkinDS:
A classless move on his part with regards Gift Monday.
It is obvious that he has a personal vendetta against her. His excuse about 'better players' is a load of BS!
He also did the same for Toni Payne, freezing her out, after the Tunisia game, simply because she challenged his strategic approach to the game.

Regarding Edna, Magudu had the perfect opportunity to invite her to the game against France, but chose to ignore her and taking some of his HB scrubs instead. At that time, Edna was not yet in the spotlight or on the Spanish radar at the time, and was very enthusiastic about playing for the SF. Of course, he botched it and then everything changed when Bayern Munich signed her.
Now, he is saying that he tried calling her and she is not picking up. Why should she?

We don't know that Edna was not on Spain's rader then? Plus that was during her breakout season, I am pretty sure they were keeping tabs on her by then.

AkinDS:
A classless move on his part with regards Gift Monday.
It is obvious that he has a personal vendetta against her. His excuse about 'better players' is a load of BS!
He also did the same for Toni Payne, freezing her out, after the Tunisia game, simply because she challenged his strategic approach to the game.

Regarding Edna, Magudu had the perfect opportunity to invite her to the game against France, but chose to ignore her and taking some of his HB scrubs instead. At that time, Edna was not yet in the spotlight or on the Spanish radar at the time, and was very enthusiastic about playing for the SF. Of course, he botched it and then everything changed when Bayern Munich signed her.
Now, he is saying that he tried calling her and she is not picking up. Why should she?

There are other things to fault Magudu for, Edna's invitation in my opinion isn't one of them. I don't think it will be fair to put this chiefly on him. The NFF is primarily responsible for this, cause the onus was on them to see to it that a budding star like Edna at the very least played the required number if games necessary to wade off other offers that may come are way. They can as a policy decision do this for stars they believe would be potentially important the program irrespective of whatever a coach's decision may be and this only happens with a functioning technical department.

For example, if as a federation, they've identified that a player (in this case Edna) may play a key role, maybe not immediately but sometimes in the future, to the growth of the Super Falcons. The policy will be to invite the player and ensure the coach (irrespective of who they are) plays said player, even if for 5 minutes, the required number if game necessary to lock them in, so they can put eligibility to rest. Coaches may decide not to invite said players if they do not fit into their immediate plans once this is achieved.

This was how the Super Eagles lost out on Eberechi Eze by the way. We could have locked him in and the rest would have been history.

If for

I am talking about 2 years ago, when Oshoala was still at Barca.
She definitely was not on the Spanish FA radar, because she was all gong-ho about playing for Nigeria and even on her Granada page, she identified as Nigerian.
There was communication between her and someone familiar with this effort and I can confidently state that she wanted to play for the Super Falcons.

BascoVanVeli:
We don't know that Edna was not on Spain's rader then? Plus that was during her breakout season, I am pretty sure they were keeping tabs on her by then.

I am sorry, but I vehemently disagree. It was Madugu's fault - 100%.

In a sane world, the NFF was supposed to engage her. But we all know that those currently in the NFF lack the intellect to do that. So, the onus falls on the coach.
Out of curiosity, who was personally responsible for bringing in the plethora of talent we currently have in the SF? I am talking of the likes of Jen Echegini, Esther Okoronkwo, Michelle Alozie or even Rinsola Babajide and Nicole Payne? All Randy Waldrum. Yet, this coach was given Edna Imade on a platter of gold and he chose to sneeze at it. All his fault.

There was absolutely NO reason why Edna could not have been invited to the France game. None, whatsoever. He blew it, pure and simple.

lovewins:
There are other things to fault Magudu for, Edna's invitation in my opinion isn't one of them. I don't think it will be fair to put this chiefly on him. The NFF is primarily responsible for this, cause the onus was on them to see to it that a budding star like Edna at the very least played the required number if games necessary to wade off other offers that may come are way. They can as a policy decision do this for stars they believe would be potentially important the program irrespective of whatever a coach's decision may be and this only happens with a functioning technical department.

For example, if as a federation, they've identified that a player (in this case Edna) may play a key role, maybe not immediately but sometimes in the future, to the growth of the Super Falcons. The policy will be to invite the player and ensure the coach (irrespective of who they are) plays said player, even if for 5 minutes, the required number if game necessary to lock them in, so they can put eligibility to rest. Coaches may decide not to invite said players if they do not fit into their immediate plans once this is achieved.

This was how the Super Eagles lost out on Eberechi Eze by the way. We could have locked him in and the rest would have been history.

If for

AkinDS:
I am talking about 2 years ago, when Oshoala was still at Barca.
She definitely was not on the Spanish FA radar, because she was all gong-ho about playing for Nigeria and even on her Granada page, she identified as Nigerian.
There was communication between her and someone familiar with this effort and I can confidently state that she wanted to play for the Super Falcons.

Oh I thought u were talking about the France friendly. I don't think Madugu was in charge when Oshoala was at Barca oh.

AkinDS:
I am sorry, but I vehemently disagree. It was Madugu's fault - 100%.

In a sane world, the NFF was supposed to engage her. But we all know that those currently in the NFF lack the intellect to do that. So, the onus falls on the coach.
Out of curiosity, who was personally responsible for bringing in the plethora of talent we currently have in the SF? I am talking of the likes of Jen Echegini, Esther Okoronkwo, Michelle Alozie or even Rinsola Babajide and Nicole Payne? All Randy Waldrum. Yet, this coach was given Edna Imade on a platter of gold and he chose to sneeze at it. All his fault.

There was absolutely NO reason why Edna could not have been invited to the France game. None, whatsoever. He blew it, pure and simple.

I was speaking strictly on a policy perspective, of course this only applies when a system works. On Madugu, again I'll give the benefit of doubt taking into cognizance his last interview. If anything he said is true, he has apparently reached out to her severally (we do not know what the timeline is) and so can't fault him particularly if this was Edna's decision. Madugu's approach and Edna's reluctance could have been as far back as a year ago. Without knowledge of the timeline we can't fairly hold him to account.

AkinDS:
I am talking about 2 years ago, when Oshoala was still at Barca.
She definitely was not on the Spanish FA radar, because she was all gong-ho about playing for Nigeria and even on her Granada page, she identified as Nigerian.
There was communication between her and someone familiar with this effort and I can confidently state that she wanted to play for the Super Falcons.

Just seeing your timeline, and going by this Madugu wouldn't be responsible, Randy would be. Randy resigned September 2024, and Madugu took up the mantle at about the same time. So going by your timeline Randy is the one to blame for not inviting her.

@ BascoVanVeli also ...

1. Edna was on Randy's radar, but he resigned in Sept 2024. We had just finished the Olympics, so there was little or no opportunity to onboard her prior to the Olympics. Also, she had a hoo-hum 2023/2-24 season with Granada before the Olympics and Spain was not on the Radar.

2. Madugu had Four (4) friendlies in 2024 after the Olympics - two against Algeria (Oct 2024), one against France (Nov 2024) and one against Ghana (July 2025). Edna had a very good start to the 2024/2025 season and still had very strong desires to play for Nigeria. Madugu was aware of this (while being part of Randy's coaching staff) and opted to use some home based players for the 4 games, in addition to the FB players invited. Perfect opportunity to invite Edna, considering her very strong start to the 2024/2025 season with Granada, but he dropped the ball.

3. Again, he had an opportunity to fully engage Edna prior to the WAFCON, especially since he opted to drop Monday and considering Edna's very strong finish to the Granada 2024/2025 season. He opted to go for his HBs and brought on the Okafor girl, who didn't even see a single minute of action. Again, another fluffed opportunity. After the WAFCON, Bayern decided to sign Edna, on account of her brilliant performance in the concluded season. Spain's radar engaged. Edna was loaned back to Real Sociedad. Opportunity lost.

This is SOLELY on Madugu, as far as I am concerned.

lovewins:
I was speaking strictly on a policy perspective, of course this only applies when a system works. On Madugu, again I'll give the benefit of doubt taking into cognizance his last interview. If anything he said is true, he has apparently reached out to her severally (we do not know what the timeline is) and so can't fault him particularly if this was Edna's decision. Madugu's approach and Edna's reluctance could have been as far back as a year ago. Without knowledge of the timeline we can't fairly hold him to account.