Ivory Coast and Burkina Faso arrive at the same match by almost opposite routes.
The Ivorians lost their play-off without conceding a goal and recovered their place when the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations was expanded from twelve teams to sixteen. Burkina Faso won all four of their qualifying matches and secured their place on the pitch.
Both begin their Group B campaigns on Monday 27 July. Kick-off is at 21:00 in Morocco and 22:00 in Spain, at the Larbi Zaouli Stadium in Casablanca. South Africa and Tanzania complete the group.
It will be the first meeting between Ivory Coast and Burkina Faso at a Women’s Africa Cup of Nations.
Ivory Coast return after twelve years
Ivory Coast’s last appearance ended with the best result in their history.
They beat South Africa 1-0 in the third-place play-off in 2014. They had not returned to the continent’s leading tournament since.
Their absence ended in an unexpected way.
Ivory Coast were exempt from the first qualifying round and faced Senegal in the deciding tie. Both legs finished 0-0 and the Senegalese won 5-4 on penalties.
The tournament’s subsequent expansion awarded four places to the highest-ranked sides among those that had been eliminated. Ivory Coast came in alongside Cameroon, Mali and Egypt.
The Ivorians return, then, without having scored during qualifying, but with a far stronger record than their first opponents.
They have scored in all eight matches they have played at the WAFCON finals. They also won the last of them, even if twelve years have passed since.
Reynald Pedros will take on the tournament with a thoroughly rebuilt squad. The French coach already knows the competition: he took Morocco to the 2022 final and secured their first World Cup qualification.
Only three members of the current Ivorian squad have played at a WAFCON before: Ange Koko N’Guessan, Mariam Diakité and Rebecca Elloh. N’Guessan plays for Costa Adeje Tenerife and Elloh will begin next season with Valencia in Liga F.
Ivory Coast closed their preparation with a 1-0 win over Mali. Grâce Ruth Sery scored the only goal in the 42nd minute and the defence withstood Malian pressure throughout the second half.
Four matches, four wins
Burkina Faso needed no expansion.
They began their route by beating Burundi 5-1 on aggregate. They then saw off Togo 2-0 in Ouagadougou and 1-0 in the return leg.
The full record was four wins, eight goals scored and only one conceded.
That qualifying campaign contrasts with their brief experience inside the tournament.
Burkina Faso made their debut in 2022 with two 1-0 defeats to Morocco and Senegal. They closed the group stage by drawing 2-2 with Uganda, a result that earned them their first point but not a place in the next round.
They have still not won a match or kept a clean sheet at a WAFCON.
Adama Congo scored against Uganda to register Burkina Faso’s first goal in the tournament’s history. The forward, who has played for DUX Logroño and AEM, is again part of a side that retains much of its 2022 core.
Alimata Bélem will also be there. The Burkinabè international started all 29 of Eibar’s Liga F matches last season with the Basque club. She has been transferred to the Washington Spirit, though she will remain on loan at Eibar until 31 December 2026.
Ivory Coast start higher in the rankings, hold a continental medal and have players with experience in some of the leading European leagues.
Burkina Faso arrive with a much shorter history, but also with something their opponents could not manage: a perfect qualification earned on the pitch.
One returns after twelve years. The other comes back convinced that its second appearance can last longer than its first.