CAF Postpones Women’s AFCON Over Venue Confusion

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has postponed the 2026 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) scheduled to take place in Morocco, just days after the Kenya Women’s National Team travelled to Ivory Coast for preparations.
In a statement released on Thursday, March 5, CAF explained that the decision followed high-level discussions between the federation, FIFA, and other key stakeholders.

Originally scheduled to hold from March 17 to April 3, 2026, the tournament has now been moved to July 25 to August 16, 2026.
CAF said the adjustment was necessary to ensure the successful staging of the competition amid unforeseen circumstances.
“After discussions between CAF and its partners, FIFA and other stakeholders, CAF decided to reschedule the dates of the TotalEnergies CAF WAFCON 2026 to July 25 – August 16, 2026, to ensure the success of this important women’s competition in light of certain unforeseen circumstances,” the statement said.
Despite the postponement, CAF noted that preparations for the tournament are ongoing and expressed confidence that the competition will be successfully organised.
However, uncertainty remains over whether Morocco will still host the event, with South Africa being considered as a possible alternative venue following the postponement.
Before the announcement, there had been confusion in the media regarding whether the tournament would go ahead as earlier scheduled.
The uncertainty arose because CAF had yet to finalise the competition timetable, confirm venues for the knockout stages, issue media accreditations, appoint tournament officials, organise a media workshop, or deploy security personnel to the match venues in Morocco.
Meanwhile, South Africa has indicated readiness to host the 2026 WAFCON amid the uncertainty surrounding Morocco’s hosting rights.
The country’s Minister said South Africa possesses the stadiums and infrastructure needed to stage the tournament. He also accused Morocco of attempting to undermine CAF President, Patrice Motsepe.
The developments come as Kenya’s women’s national team had already travelled to Ivory Coast to begin preparations for the tournament, which was initially scheduled to start in two weeks.
The Harambee Starlets have been placed in Group A alongside hosts Morocco, Senegal, and Algeria, a group widely regarded as highly competitive.
Kenya’s qualification for the 2026 edition marks only the second appearance of the team in the tournament’s history.
Their first outing came in 2016 in Cameroon, where they lost all their group-stage matches and were eliminated from the competition.
As uncertainty continues to surround the WAFCON tournament, Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania have intensified their preparations to jointly host the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) for men.