WAFCON 2026 Qualifying: Kenya stun Tunisia, Angola surprise Zimbabwe in penalty shootout victory

Photo Credit: Fédération Tunisienne de Football 

Nine second leg matches concluded the first round of qualifying for the 2026 Women's Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) and there were a couple of notable shocks mixed in with expected results.

The top ranked participant in the first round, Tunisia (78th in the FIFA rankings), were stunned by Kenya's Harambee Starlets who achieved a 1-0 result away from home in Sousse to win by the same score on aggregate. A long distance strike from Kenya's Ruth Engesa slipped through the hands of Tunisia goalkeeper Bérénice Barika inside the opening five minutes.

But the true star of the match was Harambee starlets goalkeeper Lillian Awuor, who came up with an incredible penalty kick save in the 44th minute before saving the follow up. Awuor then did it again in the 77th minute to confirm a stunning victory from the 149th ranked team in the world. The Gambia now stand between the Harambee Starlets and a place at the WAFCON finals.

In South Africa at the Lucas Moripe Stadium in Pretoria, hosts Zimbabwe fell to a surprise 1-2 result against Angola to end the match 3-3 on aggregate. With penalty kicks required to determine a winner, Angola prevailed in an entertaining shootout that featured plenty of tension and emotion capped off by a goalkeeper versus goalkeeper duel on the final penalty kick.

With 24 places separating lesser ranked Angola from their fellow Southern African counterparts, it is a massive result for Angola who have not qualified for the top regional competitions since 2002 when the competition was known as the African Women's Championship. They will face Malawi in the final round of qualifying.

In another nail biting clash from Wednesday, Ethiopia came back from a two-goal deficit from the first leg to overcome Uganda in their own dramatic penalty kick shootout after winning 2-0 in Addis Ababa. Another upset saw Tanzania hold on to their lead in Malabo with a 1-1 draw against Equatorial Guinea confirming a 4-2 aggregate victory for the Twiga Stars.

Video: Ethiopia defeats Uganda in penalty shootout after a 2-0 second leg victory in Addis Ababa.

Elsewhere, the majority of matches went as expected. Namibia, Burkina Faso and Togo confirmed passage to the final round without any trouble after decisive first leg victories. Following a 2-0 first leg victory in Botswana, DR Congo played the Mares to a 0-0 draw in Kinshasa to advance.

Still in progress at the time of publication, Cape Verde look set to confirm an aggregate victory over Guinea as they hold a 3-1 lead at home in Praia with 75 minutes played. The two teams played to a 2-2 draw in the first leg.

Completing the group of teams who advanced to the final round are Mali, Algeria, Egypt, Benin and The Gambia who secured passage earlier this week. Senegal and Malawi advanced by walkover after Chad and Republic of Congo previously withdrew.

All the final results are below followed by the final round pairings which will begin play in October.

First Round Results (2nd Leg)

Ethiopia 2-0 Uganda

(Tied 2-2 on aggregate; Ethiopia wins penalty shootout 5-4)

Namibia 1-0 Eswatini

(Namibia wins 4-0 on aggregate)

Zimbabwe 2-1 Angola

(Tied 3-3 on aggregate; Angola wins penalty shootout 5-4)

Equatorial Guinea 1-1 Tanzania

(Tanzania wins 4-2 on aggregate)

Tunisia 0-1 Kenya

(Kenya wins 1-0 on aggregate)

DR Congo 0-0 Botswana

(DR Congo wins 2-0 on aggregate)

Togo 5-0 Djibouti

(Togo wins 10-0 on aggregate)

Burkina Faso 4-1 Burundi

(Burkina Faso wins 5-1 on aggregate)

Mali 4-1 Gabon

(Mali wins 10-1 on aggregate)

Algeria 3-0 South Sudan

(Algeria wins 8-0 on aggregate)

Egypt 2-2 Rwanda

(Egypt wins 3-2 on aggregate)

Sierra Leone 1-3 Benin

(Benin wins 5-2 on aggregate)

The Gambia 2-1 Niger

(The Gambia wins 4-1 on aggregate)

Cape Verde 4-1 Guinea

(Cape Verde wins 6-3 on aggregate)

Second Round Pairings (Kick off in October)

Angola vs Malawi

DR Congo vs South Africa

Tanzania vs Ethiopia

Namibia vs Zambia

Burkina Faso vs Togo

Algeria vs Cameroon

Egypt vs Ghana

Kenya vs The Gambia

Benin vs Nigeria

Cape Verde vs Mali

Senegal vs Ivory Coast