President of Confederation of African Football (CAF), Patrice Motsepe, has reaffirmed Morocco’s commitment to hosting the 2026 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations, effectively putting an end to widespread speculation about a possible change of venue.
Reports had suggested that the North African nation had withdrawn from staging the continental showpiece, with South Africa allegedly preparing to step in as replacement hosts for the tournament scheduled for March 2026.
However, addressing the media at a press conference, Motsepe assured stakeholders that Morocco remains fully committed to organizing the competition as initially agreed with CAF.
According to the CAF president, although several countries expressed interest in hosting the tournament, time constraints and existing scheduling commitments made it impractical to reconsider the decision.
“There are discussions and a lot of competition. Morocco came forward to help us. There were many countries that wanted to host this event and, since we didn’t have enough time, our margin was really limited. As of now, there is still a commitment with Morocco because the other interested countries wanted to change the dates. And we don’t want to change them because there are also the qualifiers for the Women’s World Cup,” Motsepe explained.
The 2026 edition will mark a historic expansion, with 16 teams set to compete for the first time. Nations including Egypt, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, and Mali have received invitations to participate after missing out on automatic qualification.
Record champions Nigeria women’s national football team head into the tournament as defending title holders, having lifted the previous edition. They will be aiming to extend their dominance when the competition kicks off in Morocco.
WAFCON 2026 Group Pairings
Group A: Morocco, Algeria, Senegal, Kenya
Group B: South Africa, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Tanzania
Group C: Nigeria, Zambia, Egypt, Malawi
Group D: Ghana, Cameroon, Mali, Cape Verde
