* Angola first beat Zimbabwe 2-1 at home in the first leg last Thursday while Zimbabwe also won 2-1 in the second leg this afternoon — thus decided on penalties
* Angola will first host the Scorchers on October 20 before the second leg in Malawi on October 28
By Duncan Mlanjira
Angola have qualified for the second round of the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAfCON) 2026 by beating Zimbabwe 5-4 in post-match penalties after the two drew 3-3 on aggregate in the second leg of the first round — to set a date with Malawi Scorchers in the second round scheduled for October.
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Angola first beat Zimbabwe 2-1 at home in the first leg last Thursday while Zimbabwe also won 2-1 at their home in the second leg this afternoon — thus decided on penalties.
Angola will first host the Scorchers on October 20 before the second leg in Malawi on October 28. The winners of the second round will be drawn into three groups of four teams each — with the top two nations from each group qualifying directly for the quarter-final stage, along with the two best third-placed teams.
From this stage, the competition will adopt a knockout format leading up to the final, where the winner will be crowned.
The full first legs of the second round fixtures of the qualifiers are:
Angola v Malawi; Namibia v Zambia; Algeria v Cameroon; Egypt v Ghana; Senegal v Côte d’Ivoire; DR Congo v South Africa; Benin v Nigeria; Burkina Faso v Togo; Kenya/Tunisia v Gambia; Tanzania/Equatorial Guinea v Uganda/Ethiopia; Guinea/Cape Verde v Mali.
All-Council of Southern African Football Associations (COSAFA) encounters are Angola v Malawi and Namibia v Zambia while South Africa will date DR Congo outside the region.
The Scorchers were supposed to have met against Congo for this first round of the qualifiers but their opponents were officially withdrawn from the WAfCON 2026 race due to what their FA said was lack of competitions and preparation.
Instead, Football Association of Malawi (FAM) organised two international friendlies against Zambia, who were also not in action as their next assignment is also the second round — against Namibia, who proceeded after beating eSwatini today.
The international friendlies between the two COSAFA arch rivals ended with the Copper Queens winning 2-0 in the first leg on Saturday, February 21 before the Scorchers’ 3-2 triumph in Tuesday’s encounter.
However, the first match was played in two days as it was called off in the 21st minute due to a waterlogged pitch following a heavy downpour that started before the match and never stopped.
It was called off after the Copper Queens had taken the lead and having it been rescheduled for the following day, it resumed at the same result from 22 minutes and after maintaining the 1-0 lead, the hosts scored the second through their top foreign-based star, Racheal Kundananji of Bay FC, USA.
Kundananji was back to haunt the Scorchers again when she scored as early as the 5th minute in the second friendly on Tuesday, but the Scorchers, who were without striker, Temwa Chawinga as she returned to the USA today as per the arrangement made between FAM with her club, Kansas City Current, fought on.
The Scorchers went for halftime trailing 0-1 but two minutes from resumption, France’s Montpellier’s Rose Kabzere equalised before Ascent Academy’s Faith Chimzimu sent the team in the lead in the 56th minutes — with DRC’s TP Mazembe Women’s Sabina Thom making it 3-2 in the 58th.
The Zambians then pulled one back in the 80th but the match went the Scorchers way at 3-2 after playing out 9 minutes of added time due to injury stoppages.
The Scorchers paid a courtesy visit to Malawi’s High Commissioner to Zambia, Her Excellency Margaret Kamoto before their return home
After the match, Fazili praised his team’s performance and fighting spirit for coming from behind and win the match, a positive attitude the team needs ahead of the second round against Angola/Zimbabwe.
“The players showed great fighting spirit from the start, and we ended up on the winning side,” he told Fam.mw. “This game has helped us assess the team’s shape and address some of our weaknesses”
“Zambia gave us a good challenge, and we take many positives from this match,” said the coach, who had a full house for the friendlies just as his counterpart for Zambia.
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His foreign legion included the Chawinga sisters, Tabitha, who plies for France’s Olympique Lyonnais Féminin); Temwa (Kansas City Current-USA); Rose Kabzere (Montpellier-France), Vannessa Chikupira & Bernadetta Mkandawire (both FC BIIK-Kazygurt-Kazakhstan); Sabina Thom & Chimwemwe Madise (TP Mazembe-DRC).
The domestic league players are goalkeepers: Mercy Sikelo (Kukoma Ntopwa Women), Yamikani Kaonga (MDF Lioness);
Defenders: Ireen Khumalo (Silver Strikers Ladies), Rose Alufandika (Kukoma Ntopwa Women), Maggie Chavula & Maureen Kenneth (both Ascent Soccer), Tamala Simeza (Blue Eagles Ladies);
Midfielders: Faith Chimzimu & Letticia Chinyamula (both Ascent Soccer), Carloline Mathyola, (Silver Strikers Ladies), Tendai Sani & Zainab Kapanda (both Nyasa Big Bullets), Funny Magombo (Kukoma Ntopwa Women), Sarah Mulimbika (Ndirande Soccer Giants);
Joining Tabitha, Temwa and Sabina Thom as strikers are Catherine Kachala (MDF Lioness) and Chisomo Banda (Silver Strikers Ladies).
The Copper Queens’ foreign-based include the African Player of the Year 2024, Barbra Banda; Racheal Kundananji (Bay FC-USA); Lushomo Mweemba & Martha Tembo (both Hakkarigucu-Turkey); Ireen Lungu (Jiangsu-China); Xiomara Mapepa (ZHFK Krylya Sovetov-Russia); Racheal Nachula (Hapoel Jerusalem-Israel) and Kabange Mupopo (Henan Jianye-China).
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