The group stage of the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations finished on Thursday night in Casablanca. These are the four quarter-finals.
Saturday 8 August
Ivory Coast v Algeria · 18:00 local time · Moulay Rachid Stadium, Casablanca
Morocco v South Africa · 21:00 local time · Moulay El Hassan Stadium, Rabat
Sunday 9 August
Cameroon v Nigeria · 18:00 local time · Larbi Zaouli Stadium, Casablanca
Malawi v Ghana · 21:00 local time · Al Madina Stadium, Rabat
Winning on Saturday or Sunday means playing at the World Cup
All four winners will qualify for the 2027 World Cup in Brazil. There is no need to reach the final or win the tournament: the ticket is decided in the quarter-final.
The four losing sides will not be out of the World Cup that same evening either. They will have another match to play.
The play-off ties are already set
On 13 August, in Casablanca, the four teams knocked out in the quarter-finals will contest two matches for Africa’s two places in FIFA’s intercontinental play-off.
Those ties are not drawn. They were fixed before the tournament began:
- The losers of Morocco v South Africa will face the losers of Cameroon v Nigeria. 21:00 local time, Moulay Rachid Stadium.
- The losers of Ivory Coast v Algeria will meet the losers of Malawi v Ghana. 18:00 local time, Larbi Zaouli Stadium.
Winning that match does not secure a place in Brazil. It grants entry to FIFA’s play-off tournament, staged between November 2026 and February 2027.
Africa has four guaranteed places and can reach six.
The semi-finals cross the two halves
The bracket does not keep one side for Groups A and B and another for Groups C and D. Each semi-final mixes the two.
Wednesday 12 August
Winners of Morocco v South Africa against winners of Cameroon v Nigeria · 21:00 local time · Moulay El Hassan Stadium, Rabat
Winners of Ivory Coast v Algeria against winners of Malawi v Ghana · 18:00 local time · Rabat Olympic Stadium
The hosts and the holders are in the same half. Morocco and Nigeria can only meet in the semi-finals, not in the final.
Cameroon v Nigeria is the 2016 final again
Sunday’s early quarter-final repeats the last match Cameroon played for the title. It was in 2016, at home, and Nigeria won it 1-0.
Nigeria arrive as defending champions and as runners-up in a Group C that ended with three sides level on six points. Cameroon topped Group D.
How the four groups finished
The full standings left these eight teams in the quarter-finals:
- Group A: Morocco (7 points, without conceding a goal) and Algeria.
- Group B: Ivory Coast (7) and South Africa.
- Group C: Malawi and Nigeria, both on six points, as were Zambia, who went out on goals scored in the matches between the tied sides.
- Group D: Cameroon and Ghana.
The tournament resumes on Saturday. The full schedule runs to the final on 16 August, at the Moulay El Hassan Stadium in Rabat.
