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.
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| 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 |
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 | 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 | 3 (2004, 2006, 2010) |
| Cameroon | Winners against Senegal | 10 (1991, 1995, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012) |
 Ghana | Winners against Ethiopia | 9 (1991, 1995, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010) |
| Ivory Coast | Winners against Equatorial Guinea | 1 (2012) |
 Namibia | Hosts | 0 |
| Nigeria | Winners against Rwanda | 10 (1991, 1995, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012) |
| South Africa | Winners against Comoros | 9 (1995, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012) |
 Zambia | Winners against Zimbabwe | 2 (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]
- Greater number of points obtained in the matches between the concerned teams;
- Best Goal difference resulting from the matches between the concerned teams;
- Goal difference in all group matches;
- Greatest number of goals scored in all group matches;
- Fair Play point system in which the number of yellow and red cards are evaluated;
- 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 |
| Nigeria | 4–2 | Ivory Coast |
|---|---|---|
Sunday  11'Diakité 54' (o.g.)Oparanozie 74', 86' | Report | F. Coulibaly 21' (pen.) Lohoues 75' |
| Zambia | 0–6 | Nigeria |
|---|---|---|
| Report | Okobi 2' Ohale 6'Oparanozie 25' (pen.), 81'Oshoala 64'Nkwocha 84' |
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 |
| South Africa | 0–1 | Cameroon |
|---|---|---|
| Report | Feudjio 86' |
| Algeria | 1–0 | Ghana |
|---|---|---|
| Affak 87' | Report |
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.
| Cameroon | 2–1 (a.e.t.) | Ivory Coast |
|---|---|---|
| Enganamouit 60' Manie 118' | Report | Nrehy 65' |
Third place match
Winners qualified for the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup.
| South Africa | 0–1 | Ivory Coast |
|---|---|---|
| Report | Guehai 84' |
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
- 4 goals
- 3 goals
- 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)