2016 Africa Women Cup of Nations

2016 Women Africa Cup of Nations
Coupe d'Afrique des nations féminine de football 2016
Tournament details
Host country	Cameroon
Dates	19 November – 3 December 2016
Teams	8 (from 1 confederation)
Venue(s)	2 (in 2 host cities)
Final positions
Champions	Nigeria (10th title)
Runners-up	Cameroon
Third place	Ghana
Fourth place	South Africa
Tournament statistics
Matches played	16
Goals scored	39 (2.44 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Asisat Oshoala (6 goals)
Best player(s)	Gabrielle Onguéné
Fair play award	Cameroon

The 2016 Women Africa Cup of Nations was the 12th edition of the Africa Women Cup of Nations, the biennial international football championship organised by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) for the women's national teams of Africa. The tournament was held in Cameroon between 19 November and 3 December 2016.[1] The initial dates were 8–22 October 2016, but were changed due to weather considerations.[2] A total of eight teams played in the tournament.[3]

On 6 August 2015, the CAF Executive Committee decided to change the name of the tournament from the African Women's Championship to the Africa Women Cup of Nations, similar to the men's version, Africa Cup of Nations.[4]

Qualification

Cameroon qualified automatically as hosts, while the remaining seven spots were determined by the qualifying rounds, which took place from March to April 2016.

Qualified teams

The following eight teams qualified for the final tournament. Mali replaced Equatorial Guinea after they were disqualified for fielding an ineligible player.[5]

Team	Appearance	Previous best appearance	FIFA ranking at start of event[6]
Cameroon (hosts)	11th	Runners-up (1991, 2004, 2014)	47
Egypt	2nd	Group stage (1998)	80
Ghana	11th	Runners-up (1998, 2002, 2006)	46
Kenya	1st	Debut	132
Mali	6th	Group stage (2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010)	92
Nigeria	12th	Champions (1991, 1995, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2010, 2014)	37
South Africa	11th	Runners-up (1995, 2000, 2008, 2012)	48
Zimbabwe	4th	Fourth place (2000)	94

Venues

The tournament was held in Yaoundé and Limbe.[2]

Yaoundé	Yaoundé Limbe Locations of the 2016 Africa Women Cup of Nations venues	Limbe
Stade Ahmadou Ahidjo		Limbe Omnisports Stadium
Capacity: 42,500		Capacity: 20,000

Squads

Each squad can contain a maximum of 21 players.[7]

Draw

The draw for the final tournament of the competition took place on 18 September 2016, 16:00 UTC+1, at the Palais Polyvalent des Sports in Yaoundé.[8] The eight teams were drawn into two groups of four.[9] For the draw, the hosts Cameroon were seeded in position A1 and the defending champions Nigeria were seeded in position B1. The remaining six teams were seeded based on their results in the three most recent final tournaments.[10]

Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3
Cameroon (position A1) Nigeria (position B1)	Ghana South Africa	Egypt Kenya Mali Zimbabwe

Group stage

The top two teams of each group advance to the semi-finals.

Tiebreakers

The teams are ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss). If tied on points, tiebreakers are applied in the following order:[7]

Number of points obtained in games between the teams concerned;
Goal difference in games between the teams concerned;
Goals scored in games between the teams concerned;
If, after applying criteria 1 to 3 to several teams, two teams still have an equal ranking, criteria 1 to 3 are reapplied exclusively to the matches between the two teams in question to determine their final rankings. If this procedure does not lead to a decision, criteria 5 to 7 apply;
Goal difference in all games;
Goals scored in all games;
Drawing of lots.

All times are local, WAT (UTC+1).[11]

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Cameroon (H)	3	3	0	0	5	0	+5	9	Knockout stage
2	South Africa	3	1	1	1	5	1	+4	4	Knockout stage
3	Egypt	3	1	0	2	1	7	−6	3
4	Zimbabwe	3	0	1	2	0	3	−3	1

Source: CAF
Rules for classification: Group stage tiebreakers
(H) Host.

19 November 2016