2014 African Women's Championship

The 2014 African Women's Championship, the 11th edition of the tournament, was held in Namibia.[1] This tournament, organized by the Confederation of African Football, was also a qualification tournament for the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup, with top three qualifying for the finals in Canada. It was played on 11–25 October 2014.

2014 African Women's Championship
Tournament details
Host countryNamibia
Dates11–25 October 2014
Teams8 (from 1 confederation)
Venue(s)2 (in 1 host city)
Final positions
Champions Nigeria (9th title)
Runners-up Cameroon
Third place Ivory Coast
Fourth place South Africa
Tournament statistics
Matches played16
Goals scored44 (2.75 per match)
Top scorer(s) Desire Oparanozie
(5 goals)
Best player(s) Asisat Oshoala
Best goalkeeper Annette Ngo Ndom
Fair play award South Africa

The tournament marked the first participation of Namibia in the African championship. Also for the first time the defending champions, Equatorial Guinea, were not taking part after failing to win their last qualifying round match.[2]

Nigeria defeated Cameroon 2–0 in the final to win their ninth title.[3]

Host

Namibia were awarded the hosting rights in October 2011. It is the first time they will appear in the final tournament. There has been some criticism of the slow preparation and campaigning for the event. The national women's league will be suspended this year because all money is used for hosting the continental event.[4]

Venues

The final tournament matches were held in two stadium venues located in Windhoek:[5]

Windhoek
Locations of the 2014 African Women's Championship venues
 Windhoek
Independence Stadium Sam Nujoma Stadium
Capacity: 25,000 Capacity: 10,300

Qualification
Main article: 2014 African Women's Championship qualification

A record 25 teams applied for the 2014 African Women's Championship.[6] The top three teams from the 2012 tournament, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea and South Africa received a bye to the second round. The preliminary round was held on 13–15 February (first leg) and 28 February–2 March 2014 (second leg), while the final qualifying round was held on 23–25 May (first leg) and 6–8 June (second leg).[7]

Qualified teams
Country Qualified as Previous appearances in tournament
 AlgeriaWinners against Tunisia30 (2004, 2006, 2010)
 CameroonWinners against Senegal10 (1991, 1995, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012)
 GhanaWinners against Ethiopia90 (1991, 1995, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010)
 Ivory CoastWinners against Equatorial Guinea10 (2012)
 NamibiaHosts0
 NigeriaWinners against Rwanda10 (1991, 1995, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012)
 South AfricaWinners against Comoros90 (1995, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012)
 ZambiaWinners against Zimbabwe20 (1991, 1995)

Format

Eight teams were divided in two groups and play a round-robin tournament. The top two placed teams advanced to the semifinals. The losers of those semifinals played in the third place match, while the winners faced off in the final. The top three placed teams qualified for the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup.

Match officials

12 referees and 15 assistants were announced on 5 October 2014.[8]

Squads
Main article: 2014 African Women's Championship squads

Group stage

The draw was held on 19 July 2014 at 19:00 local time at Windhoek, Namibia.[9][10]

All times are local (UTC+02:00).

Tiebreakers

The teams are ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a tie, 0 points for a loss). If tied on points, tiebreakers are applied in the following order:[11]

  1. Greater number of points obtained in the matches between the concerned teams;
  2. Best Goal difference resulting from the matches between the concerned teams;
  3. Goal difference in all group matches;
  4. Greatest number of goals scored in all group matches;
  5. Fair Play point system in which the number of yellow and red cards are evaluated;
  6. Drawing of lots by CAF Organising Committee.

Group A
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Nigeria 3 3 0 0 12 2 +10 9 Knockout stage
2  Ivory Coast 3 1 1 1 6 6 0 4
3  Namibia (H) 3 1 0 2 3 5 −2 3
4  Zambia 3 0 1 2 1 9 −8 1
Source: CAF
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers
(H) Host
Namibia 2–0 Zambia
Williams 4'
Adams 21'		 Report
Referee: Therese Raissa (Cameroon)
Nigeria 4–2 Ivory Coast
Sunday 11'
Diakité 54' (o.g.)
Oparanozie 74', 86'		 Report F. Coulibaly 21' (pen.)
Lohoues 75'
Referee: Maximina Bernado (Angola)
Zambia 0–6 Nigeria
Report Okobi 2'
Ohale 6'
Oparanozie 25' (pen.), 81'
Oshoala 64'
Nkwocha 84'
Referee: Insaf El Harkaoui (Morocco)
Ivory Coast 3–1 Namibia
Nahi 13'
Nrehy 84', 90'		 Report Coleman 20'
Referee: Damaris Kimani (Kenya)
Namibia 0–2 Nigeria
Report Ofoegbu 36'
Ordega 38'
Referee: Lilia Abdeljaoued (Tunisia)
Zambia 1–1 Ivory Coast
Banda 58' Report Nahi 3'
Referee: Bolokanang Lekgowe (Botswana)

Group B
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Cameroon 3 2 0 1 3 1 +2 6 Knockout stage
2  South Africa 3 1 1 1 6 3 +3 4
3  Ghana 3 1 1 1 2 2 0 4
4  Algeria 3 1 0 2 2 7 −5 3
Source: CAF
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers
South Africa 0–1 Cameroon
Report Feudjio 86'
Referee: Gladys Lengwe (Zambia)
Algeria 1–0 Ghana
Affak 87' Report
Referee: Aya Irène Ahoua (Ivory Coast)
Cameroon 2–0 Algeria
Enganamouit 17', 61' (pen.) Report
Referee: Kankou Coulibaly (Mali)
Ghana 1–1 South Africa
Cudjoe 45' Report Nongwanya 19'
Referee: Ledia Tafesa (Ethiopia)
South Africa 5–1 Algeria
Dlamini 36'
Modise 41', 87'
Mollo 70'
Makhabane 82'		 Report Affak 90'
Referee: Aisha Ssemambo (Uganda)
Cameroon 0–1 Ghana
Report Cudjoe 53'
Referee: Aissata Amegee (Togo)

Knockout stage

In the knockout stage, if a match is level at the end of normal playing time, extra time is played (two periods of 15 minutes each) and followed, if necessary, by kicks from the penalty mark to determine the winner, except for the third place match where no extra time is played.[11]

 
SemifinalsFinal
 
      
 
22 October
 
 
 Nigeria2
 
25 October
 
 South Africa1
 
 Nigeria2
 
22 October
 
 Cameroon0
 
 Cameroon (a.e.t.)2
 
 
 Ivory Coast1
 
Third place
 
 
25 October
 
 
 South Africa0
 
 
 Ivory Coast1

Semifinals

Winners qualified for 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup.

Nigeria 2–1 South Africa
Oshoala 38', 45' Report Jane 67'
Referee: Damaris Kimani (Kenya)
Cameroon 2–1 (a.e.t.) Ivory Coast
Enganamouit 60'
Manie 118'		 Report Nrehy 65'
Referee: Ledia Tafesa (Ethiopia)

Third place match

Winner qualified for 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup.

South Africa 0–1 Ivory Coast
Report Guehai 84'
Referee: Lilia Abdeljaoued (Tunisia)

Final
Nigeria 2–0 Cameroon
Oparanozie 12'
Oshoala 43'		 Report
Referee: Gladys Lengwe (Zambia)

Statistics

Awards

The following awards were given at the conclusion of the tournament.[12]

Award Player
Golden Ball Asisat Oshoala
Golden Boot Desire Oparanozie
Golden Gloves Annette Ngo Ndom
Fair Play Award  South Africa

Goalscorers
5 goals
4 goals
3 goals
2 goals
1 goal
Own goal

Team statistics
Pos. Team Pld W D L Pts GF GA GD
1  Nigeria 5 5 0 0 15 16 3 +13
2  Cameroon 5 3 0 2 9 5 4 +1
3  Ivory Coast 5 2 1 2 7 8 8 0
4  South Africa 5 1 1 3 4 7 6 +1
Eliminated in the group stage
5  Ghana 3 1 1 1 4 2 2 0
6  Namibia 3 1 0 2 3 3 5 −2
7  Algeria 3 1 0 2 3 2 7 −5
8  Zambia 3 0 1 2 1 1 9 −8
Total 16(1) 14 2(2) 14 46 44 44 0

Team(s) rendered in italics represent(s) the host nation(s). The competition's winning team is rendered in bold.
(1) – Total games lost not counted in total games played (total games lost = total games won)
(2) – Total number of games drawn (tied) for all teams = Total number of games drawn (tied) ÷ 2 (both teams involved)

References
  1. "Namibia to host 2014 CAF Women's Championship". starafrica.com. Archived from the original on 2014-10-06. Retrieved 2011-09-28.
  2. "Ivorians edge holders Equatorial Guinea; Nigeria through". cafonline.com. Retrieved 2014-06-08.
  3. "Nigeria beat Cameroon for seventh title". cafonline.com. Retrieved 2014-10-25.
  4. "Namibia: NFA Caught On Its Heels". allafrica.com. 14 February 2014. Retrieved 15 February 2014.
  5. "Namibia will be ready- Oliphant". nfa.org.na. 13 March 2014. Retrieved 13 March 2014.
  6. Record entries for Namibia 2014 African Women Championship
  7. Fixtures IXTH African Women Championship
  8. "Referees gear up for Women's tourney". cafonline.com. 5 October 2014.
  9. AWC Namibia 2014 draw set for July 19
  10. Hosts Namibia draw Nigeria in AWC draw
  11. "Regulations of the African Women Championship" (PDF). Cafonline.com.
  12. "Oshoala, Oparanozie claim individual honours". CAF. 26 October 2014.
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