The 2026 Women's Africa Cup of Nations qualification was a women's football competition to determine the teams joining the automatically qualified host Morocco in the 2026 Women's Africa Cup of Nations final tournament.

Though CAF planned for a final tournament of 12 teams, reports surfaced in early October 2025 that the final tournament would be expanded to 16 teams. CAF apparently refuted those reports on 25 October by clarifying that 11 teams would qualify, but announced on 3 November that the four teams defeated in the second round that were ranked highest in the FIFA Women's World Ranking of 7 August 2025 would also play in the final tournament.

Format The African qualifiers commenced in February 2025 and featured two rounds of competition. In the first round, the 32 teams ranked 7th and below played home-and-away two-legged ties. The 16 winners advanced to the second round, where they were joined by the six teams that received a bye. The winners of the 11 second round home-and-away ties qualified for the final tournament in Morocco. After the completion of the second round, CAF announced four additional teams had qualified based on their FIFA ranking.

Schedule RoundDates First round19–26 February 2025 Second round22–28 October 2025

Entrants Fifty-two CAF national women's teams were eligible to enter qualification as Morocco had already qualified as hosts, though only 38 teams registered. The six teams ranked highest in the FIFA Women's World Ranking were given a bye to the second round, and the next 16 highest-ranked teams were seeded in the first round and played the second leg at home.

+Final tournament hosts Team 59 +Teams entering qualifying rounds+Bye to second round Team 36 50 62 66 69 71+First round seeded teams Team 78 81 82 83 84 93 102 112 120 123 124 125 127 130 136 141+First round unseeded teams Team 142 143 145 148 150 151 152 153 156 166 167 178 182 192

+Did not enter Team 144 165 170 171 176 177 188 190 194

Pots The 32 teams playing in the first round were allocated into six pots based on a combination of their FIFA Ranking and geographical considerations, with neighboring zones paired together where possible according to the number of teams. The seedings, pots, and draw procedure were confirmed by CAF on 12 December 2024. +Pot 1 / Unseeded Team 151 153 156 182 145 148+Pot 2 / Seeded Team 124 127 122 82 109 112+Pot 3 / Unseeded Team 149 168 178 193 NR +Pot 4 / Seeded Team 78 84 92 120 137+Pot 5 / Unseeded Team 142 152 167 143 NR+Pot 6 / Seeded Team 81 83 126 129 141

Draw The draw for the 2026 Women's Africa Cup of Nations Qualifiers took place on 12 December 2024 at 12:00 GMT.

First round Summary

Matches

3–3 on aggregate. Angola won 5–4 on penalties.

Malawi won on walkover and advanced to the second round after Congo withdrew prior to the first leg due to a lack of competitions and preparation.

DR Congo won 2–0 on aggregate.

Tanzania won 4–2 on aggregate.

2–2 on aggregate. Ethiopia won 5–4 on penalties.

Namibia won 4–0 on aggregate.

Burkina Faso won 5–1 on aggregate.

Togo won 10–0 on aggregate.

Algeria won 8–0 on aggregate.

Egypt won 3–2 on aggregate.

Kenya won 1–0 on aggregate.

Gambia won 4–1 on aggregate.

Benin won 5–2 on aggregate.

Cape Verde won 6–3 on aggregate.

Mali won 10–1 on aggregate.

Senegal won on walkover and advanced to the second round after Chad withdrew prior to the first leg due to delays in the disbursement process of the funds needed for match preparations and lack of funding.

Second round Summary

Matches

Malawi won 2–0 on aggregate.

South Africa won 2–1 on aggregate.

Tanzania won 3–0 on aggregate.

Zambia won 7–2 on aggregate.

Burkina Faso won 3–0 on aggregate.

Algeria won 3–1 on aggregate.

Ghana won 7–0 on aggregate.

Kenya won 4–1 on aggregate.

Nigeria won 3–1 on aggregate.

Cape Verde won 4–3 on aggregate.

0–0 on aggregate. Senegal won 5–4 on penalties.

Repechage The best four second round losers chosen by repechage according to the FIFA Women's World Ranking (as of 7 August 2025) below:

Team Ranking 66 71 79 95 116 120 123 124 128 144 152

Qualified teams The following teams qualified for the final tournament.

Team Qualified as Qualified onPrevious appearances in Women's Africa Cup of Nations1 (1998, 2000, 2022, 2024) (2014, 2018, 2022, 2024) (2010, 2024) (2004, 2006, 2010, 2014, 2018, 2024) (1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2022, 2024) (1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2024) (2022) (2016) (1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2022, 2024) (2012, 2022, 2024) (1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2022) (2012, 2014) (2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2016, 2018, 2024) (1998, 2016) 1 Bold indicates champions for that year. Italic indicates hosts for that year.

Goalscorers

References