2020 Women's Africa Cup of Nations qualification
Qualification for the 2020 Women's Africa Cup of Nations was scheduled to run from 6 April to 9 June 2020 with 12 teams, including the host nation team, participating in the group stages for the first time in the tournament.[1] However, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) decided to cancel this edition due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Africa and rather launch the CAF Women's Champions League, which began the following year, i.e. 2021.[2][3]
| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Dates | Cancelled (originally 6 April – 9 June 2020) |
| Teams | 36 |
← 2018 2022 → | |
Format
editQualification ties were to be played on a home-and-away two-legged basis. If the aggregate score was tied after the second leg, the away goals rule would be applied, even to the extent of a penalty shoot-out, with extra time skipped, to determine the winner.[4]
Schedule
editThe first round of matches was originally scheduled for 8 – 14 April 2020, but CAF announced its postponement until further notice on 13 March 2020 at the onset of the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in Africa.[5]
The second round of matches were originally scheduled for 1 – 9 June 2020, but on 3 April 2020, FIFA had recommended that all international matches scheduled for June that year be postponed.[6] With qualification not held, CAF announced the cancellation of this edition of the tournament on 30 June 2020, making history in the process as the first African continent-centric football event or competition that was cancelled or not held for global health reasons.[2]
Draw
editA then-record of 36 (out of 54) CAF member national teams entered qualification, whose draw was held on 4 December 2019 at the CAF headquarters in Cairo, Egypt.[7][8][9][1] The draw procedures were as follows:[10]
- In the first round, the 28 teams were drawn into 14 ties, with teams divided into four pots based on their geographical zones and those in the same pot drawn to play against each other.
- In the second round, the 14 preliminary round winners and the eight teams receiving byes to the second round were allocated into 11 ties based on the first round tie numbers, with eight first round winners playing against the eight teams receiving byes, and the other six first round winners playing against each other.
| Bye to second round (8 teams) |
First round entrants (28 teams) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pot A (8 from COSAFA) |
Pot B (1 from COSAFA + 5 from UNIFFAC) |
Pot C (6 from CECAFA) |
Pot D (4 from WAFU A) |
Pot E (3 from WAFU B + 1 from UNAF) | |
|
|
| ||||
- Notes
- Teams in bold qualified for the group stages.
- (W): Withdrew after draw
- Did not enter
Bracket
editThe 11 winners of the second round would have qualified for the main phase of the 2020 Women's Africa Cup of Nations.[7][9]
| First round | Second round | ||||||||||||
| 1 |  Zambia
| ||||||||||||
| 4 |  Mozambique
| ||||||||||||
| Winner 1 | |||||||||||||
| Winner 2 | |||||||||||||
| 3 |  Zimbabwe
| ||||||||||||
| 2 |  Mauritius
| ||||||||||||
| First round | Second round | ||||||||||||
| 1 |  Malawi
| ||||||||||||
| 4 |  Eswatini
| ||||||||||||
| Winner 3 | |||||||||||||
 South Africa
| |||||||||||||
| First round | Second round | ||||||||||||
| 1 |  Namibia
| ||||||||||||
| 4 |  Botswana
| ||||||||||||
| Winner 4 | |||||||||||||
| Winner 5 | |||||||||||||
| 3 |  Gabon
| ||||||||||||
| 2 |  Central African Republic
| ||||||||||||
| First round | Second round | ||||||||||||
| 1 |  Angola
| ||||||||||||
| 4 |  Congo
| ||||||||||||
| Winner 6 | |||||||||||||
 Equatorial Guinea
| |||||||||||||
| First round | Second round | ||||||||||||
| 1 |  DR Congo
| ||||||||||||
| 4 |  São Tomé and Príncipe
| ||||||||||||
| Winner 7 | |||||||||||||
| Winner 8 | |||||||||||||
| 3 |  Tanzania
| ||||||||||||
| 2 |  Kenya
| ||||||||||||
| First round | Second round | ||||||||||||
| 1 |  Burundi
| ||||||||||||
| 4 |  Uganda
| ||||||||||||
| Winner 9 | |||||||||||||
 Cameroon
| |||||||||||||
| First round | Second round | ||||||||||||
| 1 |  Ethiopia
| ||||||||||||
| 4 |  Djibouti
| ||||||||||||
| Winner 10 | |||||||||||||
 Morocco
| |||||||||||||
| First round | Second round | ||||||||||||
| 1 |  Liberia
| ||||||||||||
| 4 |  Senegal
| ||||||||||||
| Winner 11 | |||||||||||||
 Mali
| |||||||||||||
| First round | Second round | ||||||||||||
| 1 |  Guinea-Bissau
| ||||||||||||
| 4 |  Gambia
| ||||||||||||
| Winner 12 | |||||||||||||
 Ghana
| |||||||||||||
| First round | Second round | ||||||||||||
| 1 |  Togo
| ||||||||||||
| 4 |  Niger
| ||||||||||||
| Winner 13 | |||||||||||||
 Nigeria
| |||||||||||||
| First round | Second round | ||||||||||||
| 1 |  Algeria
| ||||||||||||
| 4 |  Burkina Faso
| ||||||||||||
| Winner 14 | |||||||||||||
 Ivory Coast
| |||||||||||||
First round
edit| Team 1 | Agg. | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zambia
|
Match 1 | Mozambique
|
— | — |
| Zimbabwe
|
Match 2 | Mauritius
|
— | — |
| Malawi
|
Match 3 | Eswatini
|
— | — |
| Namibia
|
Match 4 | Botswana
|
— | — |
| Gabon
|
Match 5 | Central African Republic
|
— | — |
| Angola
|
Match 6 | Congo
|
— | — |
| DR Congo
|
Match 7 | São Tomé and Príncipe
|
— | — |
| Tanzania
|
Match 8 | Kenya
|
— | — |
| Burundi
|
Match 9 | Uganda
|
— | — |
| Ethiopia
|
Match 10 | Djibouti
|
— | — |
| Liberia
|
Match 11 | Senegal
|
— | — |
| Guinea-Bissau
|
Match 12 | Gambia
|
— | — |
| Togo
|
Match 13 | Niger
|
— | — |
| Algeria
|
Match 14 | Burkina Faso
|
— | — |
Second round
editWinners would have qualified for the main phase of the 2020 Women's Africa Cup of Nations.
| Team 1 | Agg. | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Winner 1 | Match 15 | Winner 2 | — | — |
| Winner 3 | Match 16 | South Africa
|
— | — |
| Winner 4 | Match 17 | Winner 5 | — | — |
| Winner 6 | Match 18 | Equatorial Guinea
|
— | — |
| Winner 7 | Match 19 | Winner 8 | — | — |
| Winner 9 | Match 20 | Cameroon
|
— | — |
| Winner 10 | Match 21 | Morocco
|
— | — |
| Winner 11 | Match 22 | Mali
|
— | — |
| Winner 12 | Match 23 | Ghana
|
— | — |
| Winner 13 | Match 24 | Nigeria
|
— | — |
| Winner 14 | Match 25 | Ivory Coast
|
— | — |
References
edit- ^ a b Ahmadu, Samuel (4 December 2019). "Record entry as Caf releases African Women's Cup of Nations qualifying fixtures and dates". Goal.com. Retrieved 1 February 2020.
- ^ a b "Decisions of CAF Executive Meeting – 30 June 2020". CAFOnline.com. 30 June 2020. Archived from the original on 1 July 2020. Retrieved 1 July 2020.
- ^ Ahmadu, Samuel (30 June 2020). "Caf cancels 2020 Africa Women's Cup of Nations, launches Women's Champions League". Goal.com. Retrieved 30 June 2020.
- ^ "Regulations of the Women's Africa Cup of Nations" (PDF). CAFOnline.com. 20 October 2020. Retrieved 1 November 2023.
- ^ "Total AFCON 2021 qualifiers postponed". CAFOnline.com. 13 March 2020. Archived from the original on 16 March 2020. Retrieved 13 March 2020.
- ^ "Dedicated COVID-19 working group proposes recommendations after first meeting". FIFA. 3 April 2020. Retrieved 3 April 2020.
- ^ a b "CAF draws lots for the Total Women AFCON 2020 and preliminaries for FIFA U-17 & U-20 Women's World Cup 2020". CAFOnline.com. 4 December 2019. Archived from the original on 11 January 2020. Retrieved 11 January 2020.
- ^ "Draw 2020 U-17 FIFA Women's World Cup Qualifiers". Confederation of African Football. 6 December 2019. Retrieved 11 January 2020 – via Facebook.
- ^ a b "Fixtures for 2020 Women's AFCON Qualification" (PDF). CAFOnline.com. 5 December 2019. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 January 2020. Retrieved 11 January 2020.
- ^ "Draw Procedures for the 2020 Women's AFCON Qualifiers" (PDF). CAFOnline.com. 28 November 2019. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 January 2020. Retrieved 11 January 2020.