The WAFCON confetti has settled, but did Africa's women get the best out of it?

The Women's Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) culminated with the unforgettable final in Rabat last month, when Nigeria completed Mission X by coming from behind to defeat hosts Morocco3-2. The fixture provided a glittering finale to a memorable if imperfect tournament, but it's fair to ask, with the confetti settled on the Super Falcons' glory, whether women's football in Africa is truly getting the support, the recognition and the treatment that the talent surely merits. The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has stated lofty commitments to the woman's game, but can WAFCON already be considered an event worthy of those who play the sport across the continent? Scheduling that prioritises the women's game In recent years, there's been a nagging sense that WAFCON has been something of an afterthought for CAF, despite president Dr Patrice Motsepe's claims that the development and promotion of women's football would be one of the priorities of his tenure. There has been notable progress, from the launch of the CAF Women's Champions League, to incentives and resources being put in place for men's clubs across the continent to develop their structures for women's football, and the increase in WAFCON prize money to $US1 million for the winners. That represents a 100% increase from the 2022 edition, with CAF also outlining that 45% of the winners' pot is used to contribute to increasing the salaries of women's players, coaches and employees in the winning country. However, the prize money remains well behind the €5.1 million ($US5.89 million) reward England won for defeating Spain in the Euro 2025 final on Sunday, and even further behind the $US7 million Ivory Coast won as men's AFCONchampions last year. The increase is nonetheless well received, but is the big-money headline and a gleaming new trophy enough given the issues in the build-up to WAFCON? After the 2020 WAFCON was cancelled amid the COVID-19 pandemic, CAF opted to move the 2022 edition -- also hosted by Morocco -- to a June-July schedule (rather than the traditional November-December program) to match the move made with the men's tournament. That plan quickly ran into problems, however, as the schedule overlapped with the Olympic Games in Paris. Given that senior women's teams compete at the Olympics, and with two of the WAFCON favourites participating, the African showpiece had to be moved again. Only last June -- just over a year before the competition -- did CAF announce the revised intention to host the competition in July 2025, three years after the previous edition; match venues were announced only on May 27 of this year, and the competition schedule was announced only at the start of June, a month before kick off. Several teams commented during the tournament that the uncertainty in the build-up impacted their ability to hit top form. I don't want to make excuses, but we had more time in 2022 to prepare -- a lot more time, South Africa head coach Desiree Ellis told ESPN. Our league started late, and so we had to rotate players to make sure they were fresh; we ended up with four out injured. We understand that that's how it goes, but it was different in 2022. The rescheduled tournament took place over 21 days, and while this was the same period of time as in 2022, Ellis bemoaned a schedule that she said proved too demanding on the players and ultimately impacted the on-field spectacle. Banyana Banyana, in particular, were disadvantaged by a tough program in which they played Nigeria in the semifinals in Casablanca on July 22, less than 72 hours after they'd finished their draining quarterfinal against Senegal, which they won in a penalty shootout, in the sapping heat of Oujda. The team travelled on July 20 -- making the 609km trip on the morning after the match -- undertook pre-match training on July 21, then faced a Nigeria team, that had had an extra day's rest, on July 22. The Euros started three days before [WAFCON], and the final is on Sunday [a day after the WAFCON final], Ellis said. The normal recovery time should be 72 hours, if you want to have the best football in the latter stages; it needs another look... Fatigue sets in with games coming thick and fast; the legs are gone. If you want quality, you have to give the players a proper opportunity to recover. Against Nigeria, Ellis had to introduce Hildah Magaia -- still recovering from a hamstring injury -- within the first half-hour after Tiisetso Makhubela was withdrawn with injury. We can't travel one day, have training the next, then have a semifinal, Eliis said. It's impossible; impossible. The human body can only do so much. We have to take care of players first, because they're human beings. The Euros was more spaced out. OK, there were more teams, but they also have quarterfinal, semifinal and final. The WAFCON would be more interesting with the same spacing. Some teams are travelling more than others, and maybe that needs to change. We want quality at the backend [of the tournament] as well as in the beginning. While the final was a particularly entertaining spectacle, it's worth noting that four of the last six matches at the tournament went to penalties, with teams running out of dynamism and vitality in demanding climate conditions and ultimately struggling to go through the gears and impose themselves on opponents as they may have liked. Hot conditions for summer tournaments are not an Africa-exclusive problem -- just look at how conditions during the Club World Cup have raised concerns for the World Cup in the United States, Mexico and Canada next year -- but clearly Africa's climate conditions make this a particularly acute problem for the continent, with the added complexity of diverse climatic patterns across this vast landmass.

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The WAFCON confetti has settled, but did Africa's women get the best out of it?