2026 WAFCON:Women Take Over The Market Square From Girls

By Akeem Busari 

Eight teams have lined up to clash on the quater-finals, for places in the last four, and of course, the four tickets to the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Brazil. 

The competition started with the expanded 16 teams. And from the group matches, a total of 71 goals have been scored, with the Nigeria and Egypt clash producing 8 goals, the highest recorded in a single match. 

After a somewhat mazy performances from Kenya, Tanzania, Cape Verde and Egypt, the women have seemingly taken over the market square from the girls, save for newbies Malawi,  who are still in the hunt, after claiming the scalp of defending champions Nigeria, in the opening game of the tournament. 

With continental giants like Algeria, Ghana, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, South Africa, Morocco Nigeria and surprise package on the tournament, Malawi, on the prowl, the quater-finals pairings, promises more intense and exciting matches.

The first quater-finals matches slated for Saturday, fixtures Ivory Coast and Algeria  and the second game is between host Morocco and South Africa. On Sunday, West African rivals Nigeria and Cameroon would also do battle for a ticket to the 2027 World Cup in Brazil, same as, Ghana and Malawi. 

Barbra Banda of Zambia presently tops the scorers chart with 5 goals, followed by Marle Manga of Cameroon, Ines Konan of Ivory Coast and Temwa Chawinga of Malawi with 3 goals each, while Elela Vieira of Cape Verde, has the unenviable record as the only player with an own goal. The quarter-finals pairings are as follows:

1. CIV vs Alg on Saturday at 6pm.

2. Mar vs RSA on Saturday at 9pm.

3. Cam vs Ngr on Sunday at 6pm 

4. Ghana vs Malawi on Sunday at 9pm

All timings are WAT timings meaning 7pm and 10pm Nigerian time.