In thirteen previous editions of the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations, only three sides have ever won it: Nigeria ten times, Equatorial Guinea twice and South Africa once.
On Sunday there will be a fourth.
None of the three is in the final. Nigeria came in as holders and went out to Cameroon in the quarter-finals. South Africa fell in the same round, to Morocco. Equatorial Guinea are not at the tournament.
What is left is a final between a side that has played eleven semi-finals without ever lifting the trophy, and one playing its first WAFCON.
Cameroon’s fourth final, and the first without Nigeria in front of them
Cameroon have played three continental finals. They lost all three, and all three to the same opponent.
They went down 5-0 in 2004 and 2-0 in 2014. In 2016 they were the hosts, lost 1-0, and had not been back to the last round until this edition. Nigeria were on the other side every time.
On Sunday they will not be — and they will not be because Cameroon put them out. A 1-0 win in the quarter-finals, through a Myriam Maéva Nyadjou goal in the 20th minute, knocked the ten-time winners out of the tournament for the first time.
It was Cameroon’s second win in fourteen meetings.
Five goals in five matches, and none conceded since 6 August
Cameroon’s route to the final is better explained by how little they have given away.
Five matches, five goals: two against Mali, one against Ghana, one against Cabo Verde and Nyadjou’s against Nigeria. Marie Ngah Manga scored three of them, two from the spot. Four of the five came before the half-hour.
They have conceded two, both in the group stage: a Mali penalty and Cabo Verde’s equaliser on 6 August. Nothing since. In both knockout ties — the quarter-final against Nigeria and the 120 minutes of the semi-final against the hosts — they have kept a clean sheet.
That clean sheet has a name: Michaely Bihina. She made nine saves against Nigeria and kept out four penalties in the semi-final against Morocco: the one the hosts were awarded in the 118th minute, with the game still on, and all three in the shoot-out.
Cameroon won that semi-final without creating a single clear chance in two hours.
Malawi: twelve goals, two sisters and no precedent
Opposite them is the highest-scoring side of the four semi-finalists.
Malawi came to Morocco as debutants and have scored twelve times in five matches. Nine of those belong to the Chawinga sisters: five to Temwa, four to Tabitha.
They began by beating Nigeria 3-2, with three goals from the 73rd minute onwards and the winner in stoppage time. Nigeria scored twice in that same stoppage time and still lost. They put three past Egypt. They lost once, to Zambia. They knocked Ghana out in the quarter-finals 2-1 and beat Algeria 1-3 in the semi-final, with two from Tabitha and one from Temwa.
They are the seventh different side to reach a final since the tournament adopted its current format in 1998, and the only one to have done it on a first appearance.
Temwa Chawinga goes into the final on five goals, level at the top of the scoring charts with Zambia’s Barbra Banda. Banda is out. Temwa has ninety minutes left.
What Malawi will not have is Rose Kadzere. She scored two of those twelve goals — the one against Egypt and the one that knocked Ghana out in the quarter-finals — but she was sent off in the semi-final and sits out Sunday. Her coach, Lovemore Fazili, says he has plenty to cover for her.
What the two boxes say
The final sets Malawi’s twelve goals against the two Cameroon have conceded.
Malawi have scored twelve and let in seven. Cameroon have scored five and let in two. Neither has ever faced the other at a WAFCON: Malawi had never been to one.
One detail does not favour Malawi. Those seven conceded are the worst figure of the four semi-finalists, and their defence has leaned on goalkeeper Mercy Sikelo, who made seven saves against Algeria while her side put in thirty clearances.
Cameroon, by contrast, have come through their two ties on a 1-0 and a 0-0 settled on penalties. They have not scored in their last three hours of football.
Two million dollars and a new name on the trophy
CAF have raised the prize money for this edition: the winners take home two million dollars.
Both sides already have their place at the 2027 World Cup — the four direct berths go to the semi-finalists — so Sunday is only about the title.
Cameroon have chased it through eleven semi-finals and three finals. Malawi played their first match at a WAFCON on 28 July.
On Sunday, at 20:00 in Rabat, one of them wins it for the first time. The bracket closes there.
