The Confederation of African Football has postponed the 2026 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations just days before kickoff, throwing preparations for Africa’s flagship women’s tournament into turmoil and raising fresh questions about CAF’s event planning.
The competition, due to be staged in Morocco from March 17 to April 3, has been pushed back more than four months. CAF announced that the tournament will now run from July 25 to August 16, with Morocco retaining hosting rights. The event doubles as a key qualifier for the 2027 Women’s World Cup in Brazil, making the disruption especially significant for national teams’ long-term planning.
In a brief statement, CAF said it had “decided to reschedule the dates of the TotalEnergies CAF Women’s Africa Cup of Nations 2026 to ensure the success of this important women’s competition, in the light of certain unforeseen circumstances.” The governing body did not specify what those circumstances were, leaving federations, players and fans to speculate.
The move continues a pattern of late changes to major African tournaments. The African Nations Championship was postponed on short notice after concerns over infrastructure in the East African co-hosts, and only went ahead months later. The women’s game has also suffered repeated disruption: the 2020 Women’s AFCON was canceled because of the pandemic, while the 2024 edition, eventually won by Nigeria, was delayed by clashes with the Paris Olympics.
Morocco’s role as host has been under scrutiny for weeks. Tension escalated after chaotic scenes at the 2025 men’s Africa Cup of Nations final in Rabat, where crowd management and organizational issues drew criticism. Rumours that Morocco might withdraw as host for the women’s tournament prompted political interventions elsewhere on the continent.
In South Africa, Sports Minister Gayton McKenzie and his deputy Peace Mabe publicly signalled that their country was ready to step in if Morocco pulled out. Mabe said South Africa would “take it” if Morocco could not host, before McKenzie later clarified that Morocco remained the official host and that CAF had not launched any formal process to change venue. McKenzie also accused Morocco of holding the tournament “hostage” to undermine CAF president Patrice Motsepe, while insisting South Africa could organize the event at short notice.
CAF’s latest announcement did not address those political undertones. It confirmed only that preparations are continuing and that all parties remain confident the rescheduled tournament will be a success. The group-stage draw for the expanded 16-team field has already been completed, but a revised match schedule is still to be released.
