In the beginning of February, South African Sports activities Minister Gayton McKenzie was compelled to make clear remarks from his deputy that South Africa was set to step in as Wafcon hosts, including additional gas to speak of a possible change from Morocco.
McKenzie went on to say that “South Africa has expressed its willingness to help Caf if required, ought to various internet hosting preparations for the 2026 Wafcon turn out to be essential”.
In response, Caf president Patrice Motsepe stated “many” different nations have been keen on internet hosting Wafcon however couldn’t as a result of they wished to change the dates of the match.
Motsepe went on to insist “we won’t change the dates” – a remark which has aged poorly, particularly as this isn’t the primary time Wafcon has been shunted round Africa’s footballing calendar, resulting in accusations that girls’s soccer shouldn’t be seen as a precedence.
Whereas the lads’s Afcon was merely delayed by the coronavirus pandemic, Wafcon 2020 was cancelled totally. The 2024 version was lastly performed final July, having been postponed for a yr.
This time round, with solely 12 days’ discover given, groups have been within the last levels of their preparations. Ghana’s gamers, for instance, have been already in a coaching camp within the UAE.
“It simply would not occur for different tournaments in ladies’s soccer – and particularly in males’s soccer,” Ashleigh Plumptre informed Sportsworld on the BBC World Service.
The Nigeria defender, who was a part of the Tremendous Falcons facet who secured a record-breaking tenth title final July, says the truth that the 2026 match – the primary to characteristic 16 groups – will double up as qualifying for subsequent yr’s Fifa Ladies’s World Cup in Brazil makes the late postponement extra distressing.
“Many groups have not even been within the Afcon earlier than, by no means thoughts had the prospect to qualify for a World Cup. It additionally helps them financially,” Plumptre added.
“All I can do, and I’ve nearly in all probability been compelled to be put on this place, is simply take day-to-day and put together myself in the easiest way that I can as a result of there’s so many issues I’ve needed to get accustomed to, and lots of different gamers in African soccer, the place you sort of simply must go together with it, as a result of you don’t have any different alternative.”
