Qualifying is off and running this week for the 2024 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations with thirty-eight nations attempting to reach the finals that will be hosted by Morocco. Several nations are all but through to the second round after Ghana, Mali, Tunisia, Togo and Guinea achieved first leg victories by large margins while several matches were tightly contested. Sudan and Libya were forced to pull out of qualifying due to circumstances back home giving Angola and Equatorial Guinea passage to the final round.
Ghana’s Black Queens have little to worry about in the second leg of their encounter against Rwanda after a dominant 7-0 first leg victory away from home in Kigali. Star players Doris Boaduwaa and Evelyn Badu were among the scorers for Ghana who are looking to reach the final tournament after failing to qualify for the 2022 edition.
Nations from the COSAFA region (Southern Africa) performed well with Botswana defeating Gabon 4-1 away from home. Namibia defeated Gambia 3-2 in Morocco for their first leg clash and the teams will meet for the second leg that also will take place in Morocco. Mozambique achieved an excellent result with a 1-1 draw in Senegal but will have to repeat their success at the same venue in the second leg.
Due to their success at the 2022 WAFCON, Zambia and South Africa received byes to the second round. Both nations took part in friendly matches with Zambia defeating Morocco by a 2-0 score courtesy of two goals from star forward Barbra Banda. South Africa’s Banyana Banyana were defeated 3-0 by the United States in their friendly match on Thursday.
See the full list of first leg results below followed by highlights from several matches.
Scores
First Round Results (1st Leg)
Rwanda 0-7 Ghana
Eswatini 2-3 Burkina Faso
Uganda 1-2 Algeria
Egypt 4-0 South Sudan
Guinea 8-0 Mauritius
Guinea-Bissau 0-1 Congo
The Gambia 2-3 Namibia
Burundi 1-1 Ethiopia
Central African Republic 1-7 Mali
DR Congo 2-1 Benin
Gabon 1-4 Botswana
Tunisia 7-0 Niger
Djibouti 0-7 Togo
Ivory Coast 2-0 Tanzania
Cape Verde 3-0 Liberia
Senegal 1-1 Mozambique
Friendly Matches
United States 3-0 South Africa
Morocco 0-2 Zambia
Cameroon 1-0 Kenya
Equatorial Guinea w/o Libya (Libya withdrew)
Angola w/o Sudan (Sudan withdrew)
Highlights
United States 3-0 South Africa
Morocco 0-2 Zambia
Rwanda 0-7 Ghana
Uganda 1-2 Algeria
Burundi 1-1 Ethiopia
Eswatini 2-3 Burkina Faso
