Harambee Starlets’ Tereza Obunyu leads teammates in celebrating her goal against India during Fifa Series International friendly match on April 1 at Nyayo National Stadium.

📋 Breaking It Down

The 2026 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (Wafcon) tournament will be held in Morocco from Sunday, July 26 2026, and will run till August 16.

The 16-team tournament will take place at four stadiums in Moroccan cities of Rabat and Casablanca. The four stadiums are Moulay El Hassan Stadium (Stade Prince Moulay El Hassan), Olympic Stadium (Stade Moulay Abdellah), Al Madina Stadium in Rabat, and Larbi Zaouli Stadium in Casablanca.

The tournament, which will run from July 26 to August 16, has grown from a four-team event in 1991 to the current 16-team affair.

📌 What You Need to Know

Kenya will play in Group ‘A’ of the tournament along with Morocco, Algeria, and Senegal.  Group ‘B’ has South Africa, Cote d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, and Tanzania while Group ‘C’ has defending champions Nigeria, Zambia, Egypt and Malawi. Group ‘D’ has Ghana, Cameroon, Mali, and Cape Verde. The teams will fight for a total prize fund of $3,475,000 (Sh449.8 million).

Defending champions Nigeria have won nine titles, the most in the competition, having triumphed in 1991, 1995, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2010, 2014, 2016, 2018, and in 2025. Equatorial Guinea has won it twice - in 2008 and in 2012 - and South Africa have won it once - in 2022.

The inaugural 1991 edition had no designated host and was played on a home-and-away knock-out basis to determine Africa’s representative at the inaugural Fifa Women’s World Cup held from November 16 to 30, 1991 in China.

That year, Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon, Guinea, Congo, Senegal, Zambia and Zimbabwe competed. But Congo, Senegal, Zambia and Zimbabwe withdrew before start of the tournament, leaving Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon and Guinea to contest for the title. Nigeria beat Cameroon 6-0 on aggregate to become Africa’s first women's champions.

The second edition held in 1995 retained the same knock-out format. Again, Congo, Senegal and Zimbabwe pulled out, and Nigeria kept the title to qualify for another Fifa Women’s World Cup.

It was the final edition to be played as a home-and-away elimination tournament. In 1998, Caf introduced a hosted finals format.

📰 Source: Nation Africa