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.
First Round Second Leg Results
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
Second Round Fixtures
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
Highlights
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
