The 2024 CAF Women’s Olympic Qualifying tournament was held over four rounds from the 12th of July 2023 til the 9th of April 2024. The tournament was organised by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) to determine which two teams would represent the African continent at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Of the 53 CAF members that were elegible to enter the qualifying stages, only 25 actually did.
First round draw
The draws for this tournament differ from the other federations, as we don’t have group stages but every team is drawn against an opponent, and the winner of a two-legged game will enter the second round of qualifying. Teams from pot 1, would play a team from pot 2 (both West African Football Union teams, WAFU), and pot 3 (UNIFFAC, the Central African Football Federations Union) would play against pot 4 (COSAFA & CECAFA, Council of Southern Africa Football Associations & Council for East and Central Africa Football Associations). The first round was held from the 10-18th of July 2023.
- Pot 1: Mail, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau
- Pot 2: Benin, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Ghana
- Pot 3: Chad, Congo, DR Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Rwanda
- Pot 4: Mozambique, Namibia, Uganda, Tanzania, Ethiopia
- South Africa
- Morocco
- Zambia
- Nigeria
- Cameroon
- Tunisia
- Botswana
Winners of Round 1 – Pot 1 & 2
- Benin
- Ghana
- Mali
- Ivory Coast (walk-over)
Winners of Round 1 – Pot 3 & 4
- Namibia
- Uganda
- Ethiopia
- Tanzania (walk-over)
- DR Congo (walk-over)
The Second Round
In the second round, teams were once again drawn against one team, and the seven teams with a bye entered at this stage. The second round was played from the 23-31st of October 2023. In the end 8 two-legged matches were played, with the results below (based on the aggregate scores):
- Ghana vs. Benin (5-0)
- Zambia got a walk-over win against Mali
- Tunisia got a walk-over win against Ivory Coast
- Morocco vs. Namibia (4-0)
- Cameroon vs. Uganda (3-2)
- Nigeria – Ethiopia (5-1)
- Tanzania – Botswana (3-0)
- South Africa – DR Congo (3-1)
The Third Round
With only 8 teams left in the competition, the race for Olympic Qualification was heating up. The games are tighter and luckily there were no more walk-overs in the third round. The third round was played from the 23-28th of February 2024. Out of the 7 teams who got a bye towards the second round, only Botswana ended up losing, and all other six teams managed to qualify for the third round. Teams in bold, are the teams progressing to the finals (fourth round) based on the aggregate score over the two-legged games.
- Zambia vs. Ghana (1-0 & 3-3)
- Morocco vs. Tunisia (2-1 & 4-1)
- Nigeria vs. Cameroon (0-0 & 1-0)
- South Africa vs. Tanzania (3-0 & 1-0)
The Fourth Round (Finals)
The finals were held between the 5th and the 9th of April 2024. Once again the teams were drawn in a two-legged game to determine who would qualify for the Olympics.
The first battle was fought between Zambia and Morocco, with the first leg being a sensational win by Morocco thanks to a 90+4 minute injury time winner by Roselle Ayane. However, the jubilation in Morocco for this victory was short-lived as in the return game, the game went to extra time after a 1-0 Zambia advantage after 90mins so both teams being level on aggregate score. However, in the 105+2 minute, Barbra Banda scored a crucial penalty that saw Zambia win the two-legged battle with a 3-2 aggregate score. Therefore, Zambia was one of the two teams to represent the African Continent at the Paris Olympics.
The second battle was between Nigeria and South Africa. Nigeria won the first leg, thanks to a Ajibade goal (penalty) in the 43rd minute. In the second leg, both teams didn’t manage to score, and therefore Nigeria would be the other team from the African Continent to qualify for the Paris Olympics.
