Biography

2014 African Women's Championship

Tournament details
Host country	Namibia
Dates	11–25 October
Teams	8
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 played	16
Goals scored	44 (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
← 2012 2016 →

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.

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. This was the first time they would appear in the final tournament.

There was some criticism of the slow preparation and campaigning for the event. The national women's league was suspended this year because all money was used for hosting the continental event.^[4]

Venues

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

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

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
Algeria	Winners against Tunisia	30 (2004, 2006, 2010)
Cameroon	Winners against Senegal	10 (1991, 1995, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012)
Ghana	Winners against Ethiopia	90 (1991, 1995, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010)
Ivory Coast	Winners against Equatorial Guinea	10 (2012)
Namibia	Hosts	0
Nigeria	Winners against Rwanda	10 (1991, 1995, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012)
South Africa	Winners against Comoros	90 (1995, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012)
Zambia	Winners against Zimbabwe	20 (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

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

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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

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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]

	Semifinals				Final
	22 October
	Nigeria	2
					25 October
	South Africa	1
					Nigeria	2
	22 October
					Cameroon	0
	Cameroon (a.e.t.)	2
	Ivory Coast	1
					Third place
					25 October
					South Africa	0
					Ivory Coast	1

Semi-finals

Winners qualified for the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup.

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Third place match

Winners qualified for the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup.

Final

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

• Desire Oparanozie

4 goals

• Asisat Oshoala

3 goals

• Gaëlle Enganamouit
• Ines Nrehy

2 goals

1 goal

Own goal

• Mariam Diakité (playing against Nigeria)

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

External links

• Official website
• Tn Mobile 9th African Women Championship-Namibia, CAFonline.com