Africa Women's Championship 2020

Only a good thing. More playtime and exposure for more teams/players. Exposure can only increase interest in the additional countries. Hopefully it helps and holds.

 

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It's good to see so many countries entering the AWCON, but, uh...

First Round: Zambia v Mozambique; Zimbabwe v Mauritius; Malawi v Eswatini; Namibia v Botswana; Gabon v Central Africa; Angola v Congo; DR Congo v Sao Tome; Tanzania v Kenya; Burundi v Uganda; Ethiopia v Djibouti; Liberia v Senegal; Guinea Bissau v Gambia; Togo v Niger; Algeria v Burkina Faso.
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Those are the games of the round, statistically - six of the stronger countries, but three of them will go out in round 1. Meanwhile, good news for Togo and Niger, unranked teams, but one will win through to round 2.

I haven't seen info on the draw, but most opponents are in the same zone, which must have been done to help with travel costs. CAF evidently didn't make any seedings. Last tournament was similar, with an exception for Morocco (went out to Ivory Coast), and Libya played Ethiopia in Egypt.

Libya aren't in it this time, but there's a film about them (Freedom Fields)

 

The AWCON final tournament may be delayed from Nov/Dec 2020.
Host bids are also suspended during the coronavirus outbreak, says the NFF.

https://guardian.ng/sport/football/...lls-nffs-2020-women-afcon-hosting-rights-bid/ (Archive)

 

They might need to, though it'd have knock-on effects too.

Reading about the past tournaments is quite uplifting. They dealt with some problems when the championship was new - but now, I think they'll be able to overcome anything:

1991:

The first African Women’s Championship took place in 1991 and determined the single African qualifier for the World Cup. Of the eight teams billed to participate, about half of them withdrew, likely due to monetary reasons, though it’s probable some simply believed such an investment would only lead to regrets. Four were left to battle it out. Nigeria became the eventual winner, defeating Ghana 7-2 on aggregate in the semis and eventually ousting Cameroon 6-0 [agg.] in the final.​

China ’91 (part I): Celebrating the Nigeria Super Falcons, by Janine Anthony
www.unusualefforts.com/nigeria-super-falcons (Archive)

China ’91 (part II): Nigeria women journey to the World Cup
www.unusualefforts.com/nigeria-women-world-cup (Archive)


1995:

"Take us back to our first women’s national team in 1993 ... "
Desiree Ellis: "It was always a dream to play for the country, but because of apartheid I thought it would never happen. ... The night before the game, while having supper, an official of Swaziland came into the room and asked where the national team was. We responded by saying we are the national team and she said she does not recognise any of us." - (Kick Off)​

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Other difficulties with the old tournaments were the 2000 final (crowd trouble) and hosting uncertainty in 2002 before Nigeria agreed to host that year's event.

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Not much movement with the current tournament, so more from yesteryear:

1998:
Nigeria are the central team in this story, but 1998 could be the greatest Super Falcons squad, which went to the Women's World Cup 1999, and finished a golden goal short of the semi-final.
That team are now living all over the world, as a new CAF article tells:

Remembering 1998 all-conquering Super Falcons
https://www.cafonline.com/news-center/news/remembering-1998-all-conquering-super-falcons (Archive)

Kick442 traced every Nigeria game in the 1990s African Championships, including the 1998 final:
https://www.kick442.com/chronicling-the-foundation-of-super-falcons-african-dominance-1991-1998/ (Archive)
"Goals from the tournament highest goal scorer, Nkiru Okosieme and Stella Mbachu made sure that Nigeria grabbed their third straight title at Gateway Stadium, Ijebu Ode with 30,000 spectators."

2000:
Ghana made an impressive run of 5 successive tournaments winning silver or bronze medals, without ever taking gold. In 2000 in South Africa, they won the 3rd-place game 6-3 v Zimbabwe, with 2 goals by Adwoa Bayor who was still playing in Ghana's 2019/20 league.

Today In Sports History: Black Queens win bronze at the 2000 Africa Women’s Championship - https://www.happyghana.com/today-in...ronze-at-the-2000-africa-womens-championship/ (Archive)

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2002:​

This was the first tournament with full reports by BBC Sport (some links here). Zimbabwe made headlines with a 2500km bus journey to Tanzania for a qualifier, because the ZIFA didn't pay for flights.

Two games stand out: Nigeria's first loss in an AWC match, 0-1 to Ghana in the group (Albertha Sackey 33'), the win also credited to Ghana keeper Memunatu Sulemana - afterwards, Nigeria striker Mercy Akide did an online Q&A with good insights into the sport at that time.

The semifinal was a huge deal; the winners reached the World Cup, and after high drama in 90 mins, Ghana beat Cameroon 3-2 in extra time with a 120th-minute goal by Bayor.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/africa/2585043.stm

Desiree Ellis, now South Africa's manager, was central to the team from the start - a hat-trick in their first game v Swaziland in '93, and she was captain for a decade including in the 2000 AWC final. But they missed the 2002 final as Nigeria beat South Africa 5-0 and the Super Falcons won the title v Ghana.

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Dunno why I'm a walking history project atm. (Check out the world tournament 1988! one of the first with an African WNT)

2004:​

Ethiopia's best African championship; they reached the semi-final via a penalty by 15-year-old Birtukan Gebrekirstos to beat the host South Africa 2-1. Nigeria played Cameroon in the group, 2-2, and the final, 5-0, of which Perpetua Nkwocha scored 4 goals.
After the final, the champions had to stage a protest to get their win bonus from the NFA, among other poor treatment. The Nigerian president Obasanjo stepped in to help, as Vera Okolo describes. https://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/11/vera-okolo-my-father-disowned-me-for-playing-football/ (Archive)

2006:​

Gabon missed their only chance to play at this level, when the FA relinquished the hosting.
It should have been Ghana's trophy to win, but they lacked the experienced GK Memunatu Sulemana and FW Alberta Sackey, and some other players who couldn't leave their US teams. Ghana made the final but lost 1-0. Nigeria's Nkwocha again scored in the final and won another golden boot award. Equatorial Guinea's debut game at a tournament finals was a 4-2 loss to Nigeria.

Nkwocha: 4-time golden boot winner
(Anders Henrikson, cc-by)​

Our threads - with @usa3por2ft and @jonny63:​

https://www.bigsoccer.com/threads/2004-african-womens-championship-r.115051/
https://www.bigsoccer.com/threads/africa-womens-championship-2006-r.321557/

 

2008:​

Tunisia's only finals appearance, taking only 1 point, but it had a historic impact. Their shock 0-0 with Nigeria sent the Super Falcons 2nd in the group, directly into a semifinal with hosts Equatorial Guinea. And there, EQG beat the 7-time champions: Nigeria were knocked out for the first time in Championship history, 1-0, with a goal by Genoveva Añonma.
Equatorial Guinea won the final 2-1 v South Africa, with goals by Blessing Naduju and Añonma later, after an equalizer by Alice Mattlou.

2010:​

Held in Gauteng province, South Africa, months after the men's World Cup in the country. The host women's team beat Mali in the group and Tanzania (the team's only AWCON), but South Africa's off-field problems became apparent afterwards when the manager Augustine Makalakalane was dismissed for sexual harrassment of players.
The final was a meeting of former champions, a very strong Nigerian team hit 10 goals in the group, a 5-1 v Cameroon in the semis, and Nigeria won the final 4-2.
Surely nobody could stop them in 2012?! To be continued maybe

 

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In the present day of 2020, things are no clearer regarding the tournament - I'm assuming the finals, if they can happen, would be in 2021.

Nigeria's NFF, who were blamed for the resignation of Thomas Dennerby, are still insisting on a foreign coach for the national team, but their reasoning seems a bit illogical and discriminatory. They say a Nigerian such as the ex-coach Florence Omagbemi could only be an assistant - but she is reportedly is the players' choice.
https://guardian.ng/sport/six-foreign-coaches-battle-for-super-falcons-job/ (Archive)

Kenya won their greatest honour in 2019, becoming East African champions. Team captain Dorcas Shikobe calls the Cecafa title the proudest day in her career.
Teammate Mwanahalima Adam missed a potential move to Sweden due to a denied visa in February. The striker, who normally plays for Kenyan club Thika Queens, is experiencing financial hardship because of the global pandemic. https://citizentv.co.ke/sports/im-now-depending-on-my-mother-to-feed-me-broke-starlets-striker-dogo-cries-out-335965 (Archive)

Ghana coach Mercy Tagoe says her players are psychologically shaken by the Covid-19 outbreak, and she called for the AWCON to be postponed.

♫ In music news, the 2018 AWCON hosts are accused of not paying the pop star Grace Ashy who co-wrote the tournament song, "We Are Champions" (as performed by Wiyaala at the opening match in Ghana). Ashy has made football songs before for the Black Stars men's team.
I'd also love to know who composed Akosua Agyapong's song, because they deserved to earn many millions of dollars