Malawi Scorchers set to become a second COSAFA nation to win the WAfCON title after South Africa

Scorchers won the COSAFA Women’s Championship in 2023, their first ever international title

* Banyana Banyana clinched the title in 2022 and have appeared in five editions, exiting in quarterfinal stage of the Morocco 2026

* Cameroon are appearing in a WAfCON final for the fourth time, behind only Nigeria (10) and South Africa (5) while it’s a debut for Malawi in their first-ever participation

Maravi Express

The Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAfCON) Morocco 2026 this evening (21h00) between debutantes Malawi and Cameroon is quite significant between the two sides — it is the first final since 2022 in which neither team have previously won the title.

And for Malawi Scorchers, they are set to become the second Council of Southern African Football Associations (COSAFA) nation to win the WAfCON after South Africa — who  clinched the title in 2022.

Banyana Banyana have appeared at the finals in five editions and they exited the Morocco 2026 in quarterfinal stage.

Cameroon are appearing in a WAfCON final for the fourth time, behind only Nigeria (10) and South Africa (5) while it’s a debut for Malawi in their first-ever participation.

The following are WAfCON final facts compiled by CAFonline:

* This is the first final since 2022 in which neither team have previously won the WAFCON title and including the inaugural tournament in 1998, this is only the third final in which neither finalist had previously lifted the trophy. Nigeria defeated Ghana in 1998, while South Africa beat Morocco in 2022.

* The winner will become the fourth different WAfCON champion, joining 10-time winners Nigeria, two-time champions Equatorial Guinea and 2022 winners South Africa.

* Malawi are the seventh different nation to reach the final. The previous finalists are Cameroon, Ghana, Morocco, Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea and South Africa.

Malawi’s key statistics

* Defeated Algeria 3-1 in the semifinals to advance to the final to become the first COSAFA team to reach the final on their tournament debut.

* The Scorchers have won four games in open play tournament. The only other debutants to win at least four games in open play were Nigeria in 1998, when they won five.

* Malawi are only the second debutant team, after Nigeria in 1998, to win four matches at their first WAfCON.

* In their semifinal victory over Algeria, both teams had a player sent off, the first time a match involving Malawi at WAfCON had produced a red card for each side.

* Rose Kadzere was sent off in second-half stoppage time against Algeria, becoming the second Malawi player to receive a red card at the tournament. Rose Alufandika was dismissed in their group-stage victory over Egypt.

* The Scorchers have won both matches in which they have had a player sent off and they have scored five first-half goals and seven in the second half.

* Tabitha Chawinga scored twice against Algeria to take her tournament tally to four goals while her sister Temwa also scored against Algeria to move to five goals and draw level with Zambia’s Barbra Banda as the tournament’s leading scorer.

* The Chawinga sisters have scored nine of Malawi’s 12 goals. Temwa has seven goal involvements, the most of any player at the tournament, with five goals and two assists.

* Malawi have used just 17 members of their squad, with eight players starting all five matches.

* Bernadetta Mkandawire provided an assist against Algeria, her second of the tournament, putting her joint-top for the Scorchers.

* Mkandawire, Tabitha, Ireen Khumalo, Chimwemwe Madise and goalkeeper Mercy Sikelo have played all 450 minutes of Malawi’s campaign.

* Malawi faced nine shots on target against Algeria, with Sikelo making eight saves. They had 40% possession in the semifinal.

* Scorchers won the COSAFA Women’s Championship in 2023, their first ever international title after beating Zambia in the final

* At the WAfCON, they lost 1-2 to Zambia in group stages but still managed to top the pool, with their rivals, the Copper Queens exiting.

Cameroon’s key statistics

* The Indomitable Lionesses defeated hosts Morocco in the semifinals to reach their fourth WAFCON final — their first appearance since 2016, with their other appearances coming in 2004 and 2014.

* All three of their previous final matches were against Nigeria and Cameroon will, therefore, face a team other than Nigeria in a final for the first time.

* Their first appearance in the final saw them lose 0-5 to Nigeria in 2004. They then lost 0-2 and 0-1 to the Super Falcons in 2014 and 2016 respectively.

* Cameroon have conceded eight goals across their previous three finals and are yet to score. Five of those eight goals were conceded in the first half.

* In their first final in 2004, Cameroon trailed Nigeria 0-3 at halftime before conceding twice more in the second half. They were 2-0 down at the break in the 2014 final.

* The 2016 decider was the only one of their previous three finals in which they did not concede in the first half.

* The Indomitable Lionesses have conceded only two goals on their way to the final — fewer en route to a decider once before, in 2016, when they did not let in a goal in their four matches before the final.

* They have not conceded in the knockout rounds, the first time they have kept successive clean sheets in WAfCON knockout matches courtesy of goalkeeper Michaely Bihina, became the first Cameroon goalkeeper to save three penalties in a WAfCON shoot-out in the victory over Morocco.

* Across Cameroon’s two knockout matches, Bihina has made 12 saves, with nine against Nigeria and three against Morocco.

* Cameroon have been involved in four WAfCON penalty shoot-outs, with their semi-final victory over Morocco their first success.

* They lost the 1998 third-place play-off to DR Congo on penalties following a 3-3 draw. Suffered another shoot-out defeat to Nigeria in the 2008 third-place play-off following a 1-1 draw. They also lost the 2018 semi-final to Nigeria on penalties after a 0-0 draw

* They had just 36% possession against Morocco in the semi-final with Monique Ngock involved in 33 duels against Morocco, the most of any player, and won a match-high 20.

WAfCON 2026 final key statistics

* Victory for Cameroon would see them become the third nation to have won both the men’s Africa Cup of Nations (AfCON) and the WAfCON, after Nigeria and South Africa.

* Of the previous 13 finals, only one has ended 0-0, required extra time or been decided on penalties. That was Nigeria’s victory over South Africa in 2018, when the Super Falcons won the shoot-out 4-3.

* The most goals scored in a WAfCON final is six, when Nigeria defeated Equatorial Guinea 4-2 in 2010.

* The biggest victory in a WAfCON final was Nigeria’s 5-0 win over Cameroon in 2004, followed by Equatorial Guinea’s 4-0 success against South Africa in 2012.

* Seven of the previous 13 finals have been won by a margin of two or more goals. Five finals have been decided by a single goal: Nigeria’s 1-0 victories over Ghana and Cameroon in 2006 and 2016 respectively, Equatorial Guinea’s 2-1 win over South Africa in 2008, South Africa’s 2-1 victory against Morocco in 2022 and Nigeria’s 3-2 success over Morocco in 2024.

* The 2024 final is the only occasion on which a team has scored first and gone on to lose. Morocco led Nigeria 2-0 before the Super Falcons came back to win 3-2.

* In nine of the previous 13 finals, the winning team has kept a clean sheet. Both teams have scored in only four previous finals: Equatorial Guinea’s 2-1 win over South Africa in 2008, Nigeria’s 4-2 victory against Equatorial Guinea in 2010, South Africa’s 2-1 success over Morocco in 2022 and Nigeria’s 3-2 victory against Morocco in 2024.

* Two of those four finals in which both teams scored involved South Africa.

* Perpetua Nkwocha is the only player to score a hat-trick in a WAfCON final. She went one better with four goals in Nigeria’s 5-0 victory over Cameroon in 2004.

* Cameroon take central Africa’s total number of WAfCON final appearances to eight. Equatorial Guinea have appeared in three previous finals and DR Congo once.

* Of the seven previous finals involving central African teams, they have lost five: DR Congo in 1998, Equatorial Guinea in 2010 and Cameroon in 2004, 2014 and 2016.

* The only previous WAfCON titles won by central African teams were Equatorial Guinea’s triumphs in 2008 and 2012.

* Defeat for Cameroon would see them join South Africa as the only nations to have lost four WAfCON finals. Ghana have lost three, as have Cameroon.

* Defeat would also see Cameroon become the second nation after South Africa to lose their first four WAfCON finals.

* This will be the third WAfCON final between central and southern African teams as the previous two were both won by central Africa, with Equatorial Guinea defeating South Africa 2-1 in 2008 and 4-0 in 2012.–Reporting by CAFonline; editing by Duncan Mlanjira; Maravi Express

Group stage results, standings and knockout stage fixtures (kick-off times CAT beamed live on SuperSport live on DStv Channel 225 (https://dstv.stream) and on GOtv Channel 61 (https://gotv.stream):

Group A

Algeria 2-0 Senegal 

Morocco 4-0 Kenya 

Senegal 1-0 Kenya

Morocco 1-0 Algeria

Senegal 0-0 Morocco 

Kenya 0-2 Algeria

Group B

South Africa 1-2 Tanzania 

Côte d’Ivoire 4-1 Burkina Faso 

South Africa 2-2 Côte d’Ivoire 

Burkina Faso 2-1 Tanzania

Burkina Faso 0-1 South Africa

Tanzania 1-2 Côte d’Ivoire 

Group C

Zambia 6-0 Egypt

Nigeria 3-2 Malawi

Egypt 1-3 Malawi

Nigeria 1-0 Zambia

Egypt 2-6 Nigeria

Malawi 1-2 Zambia

Group D

Ghana 2-0 Cape Verde

Cameroon 2-1 Mali

Ghana 0-1 Cameroon

Mali 3-2 Cape Verde 

Mali 1-1 Ghana 

Cape Verde 1-1 Cameroon 

Quarterfinals

Côte d’Ivoire 1-2 Algeria 

Morocco 2-1 South Africa 

Cameroon 1-0 Nigeria 

Malawi 2-1 Ghana

Semifinals

Algeria 1-3 Malawi

Morocco 0(1) – 0(3) Cameroon

World Cup 2027 play-off matches

South Africa 2-1 Nigeria

Côte d’Ivoire 1-2 Ghana

Third place play-off

Algeria 1 (3) 1 (2) Morocco

WAfCON 2026 final

Tonight, August 16

Malawi v Cameroon (Moulay El Hassan Stadium, Rabat, (21h00)