tag:theconversation.com,2011:/fr/topics/wafcon2022-117033/articlesWafcon2022 – The Conversation2022-07-19T13:50:29Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1872672022-07-19T13:50:29Z2022-07-19T13:50:29ZMorocco vs South Africa as women’s football enters a new era<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/474815/original/file-20220719-20-o47741.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Multiple champions Nigeria, in black, were beaten by Morocco in the Wafcon semi-final.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AFP via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Women’s African Football Championship (Wafcon) final between Morocco and South Africa in Morocco marks a <a href="https://theconversation.com/womens-afcon-2022-nigeria-sweats-as-morocco-and-cote-divoire-usher-in-new-era-177844">new era</a>. With it women’s football in Africa has reached a second phase of its development. </p>
<p>If the first phase was about the rise of a few superpowers, led by Nigeria, then the new phase is about a spread of teams rising to the top as development of the game takes hold on the continent.</p>
<p>Wafcon is the women’s Afcon, the biggest national tournament on the continent, held every two years. The championship final is between two teams that have never won the trophy, which has previously been <a href="https://theconversation.com/womens-football-in-nigeria-has-a-long-history-of-defiance-154573">dominated by Nigeria</a>, who won 11 of the 13 Wafcon tournaments to date including the inaugural one in 1991. South Africa <a href="https://www.cafonline.com/totalenergies-womens-africa-cup-of-nations/news/stoppage-time-motlhalo-penalty-sends-south-africa-in-wafcon-final">beat</a> Zambia and Morocco <a href="https://www.cafonline.com/totalenergies-womens-africa-cup-of-nations/news/morocco-stun-holders-nigeria-to-reach-wafcon-final">beat</a> Nigeria to set up the <a href="https://www.cafonline.com/totalenergies-womens-africa-cup-of-nations/matches/2314784/">final</a>.</p>
<p>And these top four Wafcon teams also automatically qualify for the <a href="https://www.fifa.com/tournaments/womens/womensworldcup">Women’s World Cup</a> final stage in Australia and New Zealand in 2023. </p>
<p>Two of these – Morocco and Zambia – will be representing the continent for the first time at the world’s premier football event, held every four years. This, along with their success at Wafcon, tells the story of how the women’s game continues to develop apace in Africa despite the challenges.</p>
<h2>The first phase</h2>
<p>Football was introduced in Africa as a colonial sport. While women in Nigeria, <a href="https://theconversation.com/womens-football-in-nigeria-has-a-long-history-of-defiance-154573">for example</a>, were recorded playing the sport in the 1930s, they were discouraged from doing so. By the 1970s and 1980s competitive women’s clubs began emerging.</p>
<p>The first phase of the development featured first movers such as Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon and South Africa. These countries used early growth of their local women’s football in the 1990s and 2000s to establish an advantage over the rest of the continent. </p>
<p>Playing regularly in the local leagues provided the competition and fitness necessary to dominate at that stage. While Nigeria began to <a href="https://football-together.totalenergies.com/en/sponsored-competitions/total-women-africa-cup-nations">win the continental trophy regularly</a>, from 1991, it was challenged by Ghana, Equatorial Guinea, Cameroon, and South Africa with intermittent success.</p>
<p>However, with more national federations paying more attention to women’s football, the early success of the first movers <a href="https://theconversation.com/womens-afcon-2022-nigeria-sweats-as-morocco-and-cote-divoire-usher-in-new-era-177844">is amply challenged</a> as the continent moves into the second phase of women football development. That challenge has been dependent on mining overseas talent as well as developing local women’s league football.</p>
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<span class="caption">South Africa (in green and gold) beat Zambia in the Wafcon semi-final.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AFP via Getty Images</span></span>
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<p>The result is that Nigeria will be absent in the finals for the first time in Wafcon history. Some will argue that it took the disqualification of two of the country’s players and a penalty-kick tiebreaker in the semi-final against Morocco to deny them another place at the championship game. However, this is beside the point. What matters is that the Moroccans deserve a place in the final after playing attractive possession football throughout the tournament.</p>
<p>The story of Zambia and Morocco underlines the second phase of development of women’s football in the continent. </p>
<h2>The second phase</h2>
<p>Critically, African countries with players overseas have moved to harvest and use these resources. For example, North African countries such as Tunisia, Algeria and <a href="https://globalsportsarchive.com/team/soccer/morocco/40522/">Morocco</a>, with substantive nationals residing in places like France and Spain, have taken advantage by recruiting eligible players from there. The French national women’s team finished in the top eight teams at the 2019 Women World Cup. It is a team with several players <a href="https://www.si.com/soccer/2015/06/15/jessica-houara-dhommeaux-hijab-france-womens-world-cup">linked to</a> North African parentage.</p>
<p>Zambia, without their best player <a href="https://theconversation.com/womens-afcon-final-stage-is-underway-with-a-new-challenge-testosterone-testing-186471">Barbara Banda</a>, was dealing with a handful at this tournament. The team has players playing in China, Turkey, Kazakhstan and Spain. Senegal has six players who play in France. </p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/womens-afcon-final-stage-is-underway-with-a-new-challenge-testosterone-testing-186471">Women's Afcon final stage is underway with a new challenge - testosterone testing</a>
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<p>While both Zambia and Senegal do not have many players based outside their homeland, they have developed players in one or two local clubs that create the needed chemistry for building solid teams. Zambia draws its players largely from clubs like Green Buffaloes FC, Red Arrows and ZESCO United. These clubs also have popular male teams. </p>
<p>Ultimately, Wafcon 2022 signals the early stage of the second phase of women’s football development in the continent. </p>
<p>The long-term challenge is developing these teams to match the strength of the rest of the world. Nigeria, <a href="https://www.fifa.com/fifa-world-ranking/women?dateId=ranking_20220617">at 39th</a> is the highest ranked African women’s team in the world. Two decades ago they were ranked 23rd and it appears that the rest of the world is developing women’s football much faster than Africa is.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/187267/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chuka Onwumechili does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The Wafcon final on Saturday is proof of the development of the women’s game on the continent - and of mining star players abroad.Chuka Onwumechili, Professor of Communications, Howard UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1864712022-07-07T07:29:52Z2022-07-07T07:29:52ZWomen’s Afcon final stage is underway with a new challenge - testosterone testing<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/472824/original/file-20220706-23-ypurl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Nigerian star forward Asisat Oshoala has suffered injuries in Morocco.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Lluis Gene/AFP via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The 2022 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (<a href="https://www.cafonline.com/totalenergies-womens-africa-cup-of-nations/">Wafcon</a>) <a href="https://www.cafonline.com/totalenergies-womens-africa-cup-of-nations/news/2022-totalenergies-wafcon-opening-ceremony-a-powerful-celebration-of-the-beauty-">opened</a> in Morocco with several storylines that include challenges to perennial giants, broadcast to a global audience, increased monetary payout to the winner and an expanded number of finalists. There are 12 teams <a href="https://theconversation.com/womens-afcon-2022-nigeria-sweats-as-morocco-and-cote-divoire-usher-in-new-era-177844">left standing</a>. </p>
<p>The competition is the biggest women’s football tournament on the continent and it has brought excitement before sizeable stadium crowds and those watching via television all over the world. Morocco is one of the teams expected to challenge for the title that Nigeria has dominated since winning the debut edition of the tournament in 1991.</p>
<p>It’s the biggest and most talked-about Wafcon yet, but the 2022 competition in Morocco is also going to be remembered for the introduction of the enforcement of testosterone tests for players.</p>
<h2>The introduction of testosterone testing</h2>
<p>For <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/nov/26/equatorial-guinea-footballers-gender-row">years</a> there have been controversies surrounding claims of teams sporting men footballers disguised as women. These cases are not all straight forward fraud. The issue of testing testosterone levels is <a href="https://theconversation.com/olympics-namibias-sprinters-highlight-a-flawed-testosterone-testing-system-165676">complex</a>. </p>
<p>Testosterone testing in <a href="https://theconversation.com/olympics-namibias-sprinters-highlight-a-flawed-testosterone-testing-system-165676">sport</a> is used to verify gender and – controversially – determine whether female athletes with high testosterone levels have an unfair advantage.</p>
<p>In the early years, Nigeria’s <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-africa-49851991">Iyabo Abade</a> faced such claims and was eventually dismissed from the competition after she was discovered to be <a href="https://isna.org/faq/what_is_intersex/">intersex</a>. An intersex person can be born with a combination of male and female biological traits, but there are several different intersex conditions, falling into a broader range of what are known as <a href="https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/differences-in-sex-development/">Differences of Sexual Development</a>. Today, Abade identifies as a man, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-africa-49851991">James Johnson</a>, and is in the process of transitioning surgically. </p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/olympics-namibias-sprinters-highlight-a-flawed-testosterone-testing-system-165676">Olympics: Namibia's sprinters highlight a flawed testosterone testing system</a>
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<p>South African athletics star <a href="https://www.vox.com/identities/2019/5/3/18526723/caster-semenya-800-gender-race-intersex-athletes">Caster Semenya</a>, also born intersex, and other African women track and field athletes are now required to reduce their naturally high testosterone levels or are prevented from competing. But reducing testosterone levels <a href="https://www.bmj.com/company/newsroom/new-testosterone-rule-for-female-athletes-risks-setting-an-unscientific-precedent-warn-experts/">weakens athletes</a>, compromising their ability to compete.</p>
<p>Wafcon now faces the same debate. For the first time, the Confederation of African Football (Caf) – deferring to the gender <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/2022/jun/21/fifa-to-review-its-gender-eligibility-regulations-in-wake-of-fina-ruling">rules of</a> world football body Fifa – has taken the matter a step further. </p>
<p>It is using testosterone tests to determine who is eligible to participate. As should be expected, this has brewed controversy. Zambian top scorer and star, Barbra Banda, 22, has been <a href="https://www.goal.com/en-ug/news/awcon-2022-zambia-to-seek-redress-after-caf-decision-on-captain-banda-kamanga/blt48bdeb3c49933c81">deemed ineligible</a> after she <a href="https://www.bbc.com/sport/africa/62057259">reportedly</a> tested above the limit for testosterone levels.</p>
<p>Banda failed to suit up for her country’s opening game against Cameroon, yet much of Zambia’s hope of success lies on her shoulders. She is her country’s most decorated participant and led the Chinese Super League with 18 goals in 13 games on her debut season. She scored <a href="https://www.eurosport.com/football/tokyo-2020/2021/tokyo-2020-two-hat-trick-zambian-barbra-banda-makes-history-but-still-winless-olympic-women-s-footba_sto8434067/story.shtml">two hat tricks</a> at the Tokyo Olympics. Zambia was also reportedly <a href="https://chicagotoday.news/sports/controversial-exclusion-of-the-crack-of-zambia-in-the-africa-cup/">warned</a> about two other players, Racheal Nachula and Racheal Kundananji, who recorded high testosterone levels.</p>
<p>Zambia is not the only team affected. Media reports <a href="https://bestchoicesports.com.ng/exclusive-francisca-ordega-disqualified-from-2022-womens-africa-cup-of-nations/">indicate that</a> 10 other players from various countries are also affected. They include Nigeria’s Francisca Ordega, Morocco’s Nahla Rakkach, Botswana’s Nondi Mahlasela and Lesego Radiakanyo, Burkina Faso’s Charlotte Milligo, Burundi’s Saffira Guinand and Cameroon’s Claudia Dabda.</p>
<p>This is no doubt just a foretaste of the controversy that will follow the implementation of testosterone testing at Wafcon. But it hasn’t drowned out the news off the pitch.</p>
<h2>Changing of power</h2>
<p>In the early action involving the 12 teams that have made it to the final stage, Morocco dominated its opening game but only won with a set piece goal in a game that they should have won by a wider margin.</p>
<p>Defending champions Nigeria, winner of 11 championships, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/sport/africa/62049929">lost</a> its opening game 1-2 to South Africa. Nigeria pulled a goal back very late in a game that was dominated by the South African team. Perennial power team Cameroon could only <a href="https://www.goal.com/en/news/2022-wafcon-wrap-cameroon-held-by-zambia-tunisia-and-senegal-off-/bltc2ad034a41d8e408">tie</a> 0-0 with Zambia even with the Zambians missing suspended star player Banda. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/womens-afcon-2022-nigeria-sweats-as-morocco-and-cote-divoire-usher-in-new-era-177844">Women's Afcon 2022: Nigeria sweats as Morocco and Cote d'Ivoire usher in new era</a>
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<p>These results underline the <a href="https://theconversation.com/womens-afcon-2022-nigeria-sweats-as-morocco-and-cote-divoire-usher-in-new-era-177844">changing of power</a> in women’s football in Africa. The expanded final tournament (up from eight to 12 teams) will help improve competition and narrow the gap between the top teams and the others.</p>
<p>South Africa has now beaten Nigeria in consecutive games and in domineering fashion. One of those games was <a href="https://guardian.ng/sport/banyana-banyana-overrun-super-falcons-to-win-aisha-buhari-cup/">at a competition in Nigeria</a>. The days of Nigeria coming into the competition as automatic favourites are quickly disappearing. Clearly, the investments that other African nations are making in women football are beginning to pay off and several teams are already showing promise. Both hosts Morocco and Senegal have already qualified from Group A after winning two of their opening games each. </p>
<p>The testosterone testing debate will continue to wage in later Wafcons and across women’s sports for some time off the field. On the field there is no doubt that the 2022 edition is taking Wafcon to another level.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/186471/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chuka Onwumechili does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The thorny issue of testosterone testing has made news, not just the growing skills on the field.Chuka Onwumechili, Professor of Communications, Howard UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1778442022-02-24T15:12:17Z2022-02-24T15:12:17ZWomen’s Afcon 2022: Nigeria sweats as Morocco and Cote d'Ivoire usher in new era<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/448305/original/file-20220224-27-szvhxe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Francisca Ordega of Nigeria's legendary women's football team.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Omar Vega/Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Twelve African women’s football teams remain standing after the qualifying rounds of the 12th edition of the <a href="https://www.cafonline.com/development/women-football/photos/">2022 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations</a> (Wafcon). The final stage of this year’s tournament commences on 3 July in Morocco, with the final match scheduled for 23 July. But the story of the contest is much bigger than this year’s eventual result.</p>
<p>When women’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/womens-football-in-nigeria-has-a-long-history-of-defiance-154573">football legends</a> Nigeria overcame Cote d'Ivoire’s challenge by just one goal to nil in the qualification round on 23 February, it showed how far the game has come in Africa and pointed to a healthy future.</p>
<p>Since the women’s African championship began in 1991, only a few countries have looked capable of challenging for the trophy. And only Nigeria and Equatorial Guinea have <a href="http://www.rsssf.com/tablesa/afr-women.html">won the championship</a>. Nigeria has <a href="http://www.rsssf.com/tablesa/afr-women.html">won 11 of 13</a> finals. Only Equatorial Guinea, Ghana, Cameroon and South Africa have challenged Nigeria. They have regularly reached the final stages of the competition. But teams like Cote d'Ivoire and Morocco are working hard to change that story.</p>
<p>Although Cote d'Ivoire failed to get past Nigeria, it has built a credible team to challenge the top tier of African women’s football. Morocco, too, has steadily improved in women’s football. In the inaugural CAF Women’s Champions League in 2021, the Moroccan club ASFAR <a href="https://punchng.com/caf-asfar-thrash-rivers-angels-3-0-in-group-opener/">humiliated</a> the Nigerian women’s champion team Rivers Angels FC 3-0. Two players in Cote d'Ivoire’s national team play for ASFAR in the Moroccan league.</p>
<h2>Cote d'Ivoire’s rapid rise</h2>
<p>Cote d'Ivoire has a relatively recent history of women’s football, with an official start date <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20100308003148/http:/www.fifa.com/mm/goalproject/civ_eng.pdf">recorded as 1975</a>. But its rise has been steady, through careful planning. </p>
<p>In 2011, Cote d'Ivoire was ranked way down at 136th in the world. But the hiring of <a href="https://globalsportsarchive.com/people/soccer/clementine-toure/285288/">Clémentine Touré</a> as manager in 2010 changed the team’s fortunes. Touré had represented Cote d'Ivoire as a player in the previous decade. She has subsequently become perhaps Africa’s top manager for women’s football. She was responsible for one of Equatorial Guinea’s Wafcon wins as manager in 2008. Two years later, she took Equatorial Guinea to the finals of the same competition, losing to Nigeria.</p>
<p>Her achievements with Equatorial Guinea led to Cote d'Ivoire requesting that she return home to manage her country’s women’s team. That began the meteoric rise of Cote d'Ivoire. Touré changed the team and their approach, making them more competitive and focused. Success followed. Cote d'Ivoire’s women’s team reached their first African Championship tournament in 2012. Three years later, they <a href="https://www.sportsnet.ca/soccer/fifa-womens-world-cup-ivory-coast-clementine-toure-tia-vino-ines-nrehy/">qualified for the 2015 Women’s World Cup</a>. To earn a place at the World Cup they had to overcome favourites such as Equatorial Guinea and South Africa.</p>
<p>Cote d'Ivoire, under Touré, has also encouraged women to play professionally outside the country and has recruited players born to Ivorian parents outside the country, particularly in France. Currently, the team’s players are playing professionally in Spain, France, Russia, Japan, Morocco and Equatorial Guinea.</p>
<h2>Morocco’s steady progress</h2>
<p>Morocco, the host of the upcoming Women’s Cup of Nations final round in July, has steadily become a force in African women’s football but is still considered a tier below Nigeria, Cameroon, South Africa and Ghana. </p>
<p>Recently, Morocco has built up its team, recruiting most of its players from one club – <a href="https://www.cafonline.com/caf-women-champions-league/news/asfar-the-radiant-face-of-women-s-football-in-morocco">ASFAR</a>. As many as 13 players have been invited recently from ASFAR. </p>
<p>Morocco’s current strength is marked by beating Cameroon 1-0 in the inaugural edition of the invitational <a href="https://www.bbc.com/pidgin/tori-58549922">Aisha Buhari Cup</a> in Nigeria 1-0. The Moroccan team, managed by Reynald Pedros, don’t rely only on ASFAR but have also looked to women playing in the United States, England, Holland, Spain, Switzerland and France.</p>
<h2>Nigeria responds</h2>
<p>In spite of the rise of countries like Cote d'Ivoire and Morocco, Nigeria is striving to maintain its supremacy. Nigeria has dominated women’s football in Africa, perhaps due to the long history of the game in the country. <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09523367.2021.1993190?journalCode=fhsp20">Nigerian women were playing football as far back as 1937</a>, although serious competition at the international level did not take place until the International Federation for Football Associations introduced a <a href="https://www.fifa.com/news/remembering-the-first-womens-world-cup-final">global competition for women footballers in 1991</a>. </p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/womens-football-in-nigeria-has-a-long-history-of-defiance-154573">Women's football in Nigeria has a long history of defiance</a>
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<p>As other African countries began to challenge Nigeria, the team is now seeking to draw from footballers born to Nigerian parents outside the continent. It has attracted <a href="https://www.goal.com/en-us/news/sevilla-hand-toni-payne-contract-extension-until-2021/1d758u6nr6mnb1npnoca2x4f7y">Toni Payne from Sevilla</a> in Spain, <a href="https://www.espn.com/soccer/nigeria-ngaw/story/4408279/us-born-payne-sisters-make-history-for-nigeriaset-to-face-uswnt-together">Nicole Payne</a> from the United States and <a href="https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/60183943">Ashleigh Plumptre</a> from Leicester City in England. None of these players played for clubs in Nigeria. </p>
<p>In addition, the country has moved to hire foreign managers, believing that their approach will help succeed on the continent and at the global level. In 2020 the current manager <a href="https://www.goal.com/en-us/news/nigeria-name-randy-waldrum-as-super-falcons-coach/1fbs5gvdcw5to10d8te8b92lyj">Randy Waldrum</a>, from the United States, replaced Thomas Dennerby, who previously coached the Swedish women’s national team.</p>
<p>As more African women’s football teams become serious contenders and professionalise, the action at the Cup of Nations is going to grow fiercer and the gap between teams narrower. This will be good for the women’s game because it will increase investment and sponsorship in the game, grow national pride and increase the fanbase of supporters.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/177844/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chuka Onwumechili does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Twelve teams remain after the qualifying rounds of the 2022 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations - with Nigeria no longer automatic favourites as the competition diversifies.Chuka Onwumechili, Professor of Communications, Howard UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.