The first round of qualifying for the 2024 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations is complete with twenty-two teams earning their way into the second and final qualifying round. While the majority of two-legged matches ended with lopsided scores there was penalty kick drama in three tightly contested ties. Kenya’s Harambee Starlets, denied the opportunity to qualify for the 2022 edition due to issues off the pitch, shocked Cameroon in spot kicks to take down Africa’s third ranked national team.

Tanzania and Burundi were also beneficiaries of the lottery of penalty kicks. Tanzania scored two second half goals in the span of three minutes to overturn a 2-0 deficit against Ivory Coast before completing the first round’s other notable upset on penalties. Burundi and Ethiopia played to a 1-1 draw once again in their second leg clash but Burundi performed perfectly in the shootout by converting all five of their penalty attempts.

Otherwise there were few surprises. Ghana, Tunisia and Mali won by vast margins over a few of the continent’s less pedigreed national teams. Senegal narrowly escaped an upset by defeating Mozambique 2-1 in the second leg for a 3-2 aggregate victory, a result that was helped by the fact that both legs were played in Senegal.

All of the second leg results are below followed by the second round fixtures and then plenty of highlights from the conclusion of the first round.

South Sudan 0-4 Egypt

Egypt advance 8-0 on aggregate

Namibia 2-0 The Gambia

Namibia advance 5-2 on aggregate

Mozambique 1-2 Senegal

Senegal advance 3-2 on aggregate

Kenya 1-0 Cameroon

Tied 1-1 on aggregate; Kenya win 4-3 in penalty shootout

Ethiopia 1-1 Burundi

Tied 2-2 on aggregate; Burundi win 5-3 in penalty shootout

Tanzania 2-0 Ivory Coast

Tied 2-2 on aggregate; Tanzania win 4-2 in penalty shootout

Mauritius 0-3 Guinea

Guinea advance 11-0 on aggregate

Botswana 6-0 Gabon

Botswana advance 10-1 on aggregate

Congo 2-0 Guinea-Bissau

Congo advance 3-0 on aggregate

Niger 1-5 Tunisia

Tunisia advance 12-1 on aggregate

Togo 6-0 Djibouti

Togo advance 13-0 on aggregate

Liberia 2-3 Cape Verde

Cape Verde advance 6-2 on aggregate

Benin 1-2 DR Congo

DR Congo advance 4-2 on aggregate

Ghana 5-0 Rwanda

Ghana advance 12-0 on aggregate

Burkina Faso 3-0 Eswatini

Burkina Faso advance 6-2 on aggregate

Mali 3-0 Central African Republic

Mali advance 10-1 on aggregate

Algeria 1-1 Uganda

Algeria advance 3-2 on aggregate

– Equatorial Guinea, Nigeria and Angola advance via walkover after Libya, São Tomé and Príncipe and Sudan withdraw

– Zambia and South Africa received byes to the second round

Senegal v Egypt

Mali v Guinea

Nigeria v Cape Verde

Algeria v Burundi

Equatorial Guinea v DR Congo

Tanzania v Togo

Ghana v Namibia

Kenya v Botswana

Tunisia v Congo

Angola v Zambia

Burkina Faso v South Africa

Tanzania 2-0 Ivory Coast (Highlights and penalties)

Ghana 5-0 Rwanda

Kenya 1-0 Cameroon

Ethiopia 1-1 Burundi

Benin 1-2 DR Congo

Algeria 1-1 Uganda

Mali 3-0 Central African Republic