African Women's Championship

The African Women's Championship is a biennial competition in women's football for national teams which belong to the Confederation of African Football (CAF). Nine tournaments have been held, with the current champions being Nigeria. Nigeria have won all but one of the previous tournaments.

The competition has served as a qualifying tournament for the FIFA Women's World Cup every other year since its inception in 1991. In 2006, the final round of the competition took place in Nigeria for the third time, replacing Gabon, which was initially granted the right to host but later pulled out citing financial difficulties.

History

In 2000, hosts South Africa met three-time champions Nigeria in the final game of the tournament. After Nigeria finished the first half ahead 1-0, Nigeria's Stella Mbachu scored a second goal in the 72nd minute and the home crowd realized there was no coming back. Supporters began hurling bottles and other debris at officials and Nigerian players. The match was abandoned after three attempts at restarts were all interrupted by further disturbances. Riot police began fighting battles with bottle-throwing supporters about 40 minutes after the goal had been allowed, throwing tear gas into the crowd to break up the disturbance. The game and the tournament were awarded to Nigeria.

Results

Note: abd - match abandoned

Statistics

Performance by nation

Tournament appearances

Participating nations

Legend

• 1st – Champions
• 2nd – Runners-up
• 3rd – Third place
• 4th – Fourth place
• QF – Quarter Finals
• GS – Group stage
• q – Qualified
•     — Hosts

Most championships won

Most tournaments hosted

External links

• Africa - Women's Championship
• 2006 Africa - Women's Championship & 2007 FIFA Women's Cup Qualification