Women’s Africa Cup of Nations has had one prominent champion for years, and that’s Nigeria. However, 2026 brought in a new champion, a team that had been to the finals three times and ended up losing them: Cameroon. The indomitable Lionesses beat Malawi to claim their maiden WAFCON title. They became only the fourth country to win the tournament after Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea and South Africa.
Cameroon secured a 3-0 win over the tournament debutants, Malawi. Marie Ngah Manga scored two goals, while Naomi Eto scored the other.
“I feel like it’s a dream because you know Cameroon have been working hard to have this moment, and today for us to be champions of Africa is a very, very wonderful thing,” Ngah Manga said.
Malawi, who were the lowest-ranked side at the WAFCON 2026 at 153rd in the world, reached the final on the back of the efforts of the Chawinga sisters. However, Cameroon ensured the Southern Africans wouldn’t get their fairy-tale ending in their unexpected campaign in the tournament.
Malawi had a good start; however, it suffered a double blow when Ngah Manga headed the opener from close range in the 21st minute — shortly before Eto turned brilliantly to send the ball inside the right post.
The Chawinga sisters had pushed Malawi after the break. Tabitha Chawinga felt she should have had a penalty, but a VAR check suggested otherwise.
Cameroon, before the finals, had a good campaign for themselves. Their first match against Mali resulted in a 2-1 win, and the second match against Ghana also ended in a 0-1 win.
However, the match against Cape Verde ended in a draw, but in the quarterfinals they sealed a win over the 10-time champions, Nigeria. After which, the only thing between them and the final was a matchup against Morocco in the semifinals, which saw a 3-0 win on penalties.
Gianni Infantino, the FIFA President who’s been in the talks lately for the wrong reasons, attended the game along with CAF President Patrice Motsepe.
Infantino later helped Motsepe hand out medals to the top three teams. He also posed for a photo with Motsepe and Samuel Eto’o, the president of the Cameroon Football Federation, and with Cameroon forward Monique Ngock after she received the player of the tournament trophy.
Both Malawi and Cameroon are set to feature at the 2027 Women’s FIFA World Cup in Brazil alongside Morocco and Algeria.
