South Africa women's national team coach Desiree Ellis has admitted that the 2024 Women's Africa Cup of Nations will be a tough one due to the countries that will be present at the tournament.
Banyana Banyana are poised to defend the title they won at the last edition of the WAFCON in 2022 under Ellis. The tactician admitted the Women's Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco will be very competitive.
“You just need to look at the countries that have now qualified for the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) finals in Morocco that will be played in July,” Ellis told CAF Online.
“One quarter of the finalists at the last finals in Morocco (in 2022) have been replaced. They are not the same countries that were there the last time round and this is proof of widespread development. Algeria, Tanzania, Mali and Ghana are back. It means a lot of countries around the continent are in contention to qualify for the finals, which wasn’t the case too many years ago."
“It used to pretty much be the same old faces all the time but now the line-up for WAFCON is more diverse. Cameroon is a country that has been a WAFCON runner-up three times previously and they have also qualified for the FIFA Women’s World Cup and the Olympics Games. But they were unable to qualify for the next WAFCON. That’s how competitive it is now.”
The 2022 title won in Morocco is South Africa’s first title with Nigeria’s Super Falcons being the record holders with nine trophies.
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