The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has announced that the anticipated 2026 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON), which was set for this month ending, has been postponed to July, four months away from its original kick-off date.

The football governing body, yesterday announced in a statement that it will give its final verdict concerning the Women’s tournament within 48 hours after speculations began to swell concerning Morcco’s indecision to host the regional tournament.

In less than 48 hours, it has announced in a formal statement that the tournament that was scheduled to be played out from March 17 to April 3 in Morocco has been rescheduled to run from July 25 to August 16.

“After discussions between CAF and its partners, FIFA and other stakeholders, CAF decided to reschedule the dates of the Total Energies CAF WAFCON 2026, to 25 July – 16 August 2026; to ensure the success of this important women’s competition, in the light of certain unforeseen circumstances.”

Ghana’s Black Queens have qualified to compete in the tournament and are competing in the Pink Ladies Cup in preparation for the competition. The Black Queens won bronze at the last Women’s AFCON.

CAF also reassured all stakeholders that despite the change in schedule, they were confident the competition will be successful in July.

South Africa Minister of Sports, Arts and Culture Gayton McKenzie recently blasted Morocco’s attitude towards the competition and stated that South Africa was ready to step in as hosts.

Amid the uncertainty, South Africa has expressed its readiness to take over the hosting role from Morocco if it remains uncertain The country’s Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture, Gayton McKenzie, emphasised South Africa’s capability and infrastructure.

“If Morocco is ready to host the WAFCON because they had a brilliant AFCON, they should do so. But if they are not ready, we want to tell them we (South Africa) are not a country that doesn’t host games. We are not a country with less infrastructure. We will never be held hostage by countries that have less than what we have,” McKenzie said.

“We don’t wait for anyone. We will not allow women’s football to be treated this way. If Morocco is not going to host it, South Africa is standing ready because, at the end of the day, we will embarrass the President of CAF.”

In an unrelated development, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) condemned the conduct of some players, match officials and even coaches during the 2025 AFCON final between Senegal and Morocco yesterday, Sunday, January 18.

In a statement dated January 19 and shared by the African Football governing body, it slammed the conduct of the players and all other parties involved in the chaos as “unacceptable”, stating that

It said, “The Confédération Africaine de Football (“CAF”) condemns the unacceptable behaviour of some players and officials during the TotalEnergies CAF Africa Cup of Nations Morocco 2025 Final between Morocco and Senegal in Rabat last night.”

It went on to register its displeasure about what it also labelled as inappropriate behaviour towards referees.

“CAF strongly condemns any inappropriate behaviour which occurs during matches, especially those targeting the refereeing team or match organisers”, parts of the statement noted, adding that it will review all footage from the game to exact the right penalties against offenders.

Events that happened during the gameThe final of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) was nothing short of controversial, chaotic and tense; however, the side widely alleged to be at the centre of it all was Senegal.

This followed Morocco being awarded a penalty after their player, Ayoub El Kaabi, tumbled in the box following contact with Senegal defender Abdou Diallo. The referee initially waved play on, but later intervened after a VAR review.

Following the check, Morocco were awarded a penalty, which clearly upset Senegal’s players, who believed the contact was minimal and that El Kaabi had gone down too easily.

Consequently, they staged a walk-off in protest on the pitch, but the intervention of their captain, former Liverpool forward Sadio Mané, persuaded them to continue the game. Their return, many believe, wasn’t just as a result of Mane’s intervention but also due to Morocco missing the penalty.

Diaz missed the resulting penalty as he bizarrely clipped a Panenka effort down the middle and straight at Edouard Mendy.

In an interesting turn of events, Pape Gueye notched a goal in stoppage time, giving Senegal a lead in the 94th-minute securing the team their second AFCON title.

Sadio explains the motive behind his actionFollowing their victory over Morocco, Mane, during an interview with the media, explained that even though the referee’s decision might have been wrong, the most important thing is to respect the game and keep playing, hence his decision to call his teammates back o the pitch to play as football is widely love globally and it will have been unfair to the people watching to see the game called off over one disputed call.

He said, “When they decided to go out and not play, I stayed and asked some people, ‘What do you think about this? Is it a good idea or not?’ Then I decided to go and bring everyone back to the pitch. I think it is the best thing to do.

“Because this is just football, I think the referee sometimes can make mistakes. People around the world are watching. It could be a penalty or not, but that is not the most important thing. What matters is respecting the game. It is not fair to stop a match like this.”