1998 African Women's Championship

1998 African Women's Championship
Tournament details
Host countryNigeria
Dates17 – 31 October
Teams8
Venues2 (in 2 host cities)
Final positions
Champions Nigeria (3rd title)
Runners-up Ghana
Third place DR Congo
Fourth place Cameroon
Tournament statistics
Matches played13
Goals scored62 (4.77 per match)
Top scorer(s)Nigeria Nkiru Okosieme
(3 goals)
← 1995
2000 →

The 1998 African Women's Championship was the first official staging of the biennial African Women's Championship tournament organised by the Confederation of African Football (CAF). Since this edition, the tournament has been organized biennially and was hosted by a country unlike the previous two editions.

It was hosted from 17 to 31 October by Nigeria whose women's team successfully defended its title, winning it for a 3rd time after beating Ghana 2–0 in the final. Both finalists qualified for the following year's FIFA Women's World Cup in the United States.

Qualification

A qualification round was installed in the tournament for the first time. With Nigeria qualifying automatically as hosts, the remaining seven spots were determined by a qualification round and a play-off round which took place between March and April 1998.

Team 1 Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
Mozambique  7 – 2  Lesotho 3–0 4–2
South Africa  15 – 0  Swaziland 9–0 6 – 0
Egypt  2 – 1  Uganda 1–1 1–0
Ghana  19 – 0  Guinea 11–0 8–0
DR Congo  w/o  Namibia — —
Cameroon  w/o  Sierra Leone — —
Morocco  w/o  Kenya — —

First leg:

Mozambique 3–0 Lesotho

Second leg:

Lesotho 2–4 Mozambique

Mozambique won 7–2 on aggregate and qualified for the main tournament.

South Africa 9–0 Swaziland
Report

South Africa won 15–0 on aggregate and qualified for the main tournament.

Egypt 1–1 Uganda
Uganda 0–1 Egypt

Egypt won 2–1 on aggregate and qualified for the main tournament.

Ghana 11–0 Guinea
Report
Guinea 0–8 Ghana

Ghana won 19–0 on aggregate and qualified for the main tournament.

DR Congo Cancelled Namibia

DR Congo won by default and qualified for the main tournament.

Cameroon Cancelled Sierra Leone

Cameroon won by default and qualified for the main tournament.

Morocco Cancelled Kenya

Morocco won by default and qualified for the main tournament.

Qualified teams

DR Congo, Egypt and Morocco made their debuts in the tournament at this edition. Mozambique failed to arrive for the tournament despite qualifying with Lesotho as its late replacement for Mozambique, also failing to show up.[2]

Team Appearance Previous best appearance
 Cameroon2ndRunners-up (1991)
 DR Congo1stDebut
 Egypt1stDebut
 Ghana3rdSemi-finals (1995)
 Morocco1stDebut
 Mozambique1stDebut
 Nigeria (hosts)3rdChampions (1991, 1995)
 South Africa2ndRunners-up (1995)

Venues

Kaduna
Locations of the 1998 African Women's Championship venues
 Ijebu Ode
Ahmadu Bello Stadium Gateway Stadium
Capacity: 16,000 Capacity: 20,000

Group stage

Tiebreakers

If two or more teams in the group stage are tied on points tie-breakers are in order:

  1. greater number of points in matches between tied teams
  2. superior goal difference in matches between tied teams
  3. greater number of goals scored in matches between tied teams
  4. superior goal difference in all group matches
  5. greater number of goals scored in all group matches
  6. fair play criteria based on red and yellow cards received
  7. drawing of lots

Group A

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Nigeria (H) 3 3 0 0 20 0 +20 9 Advance to knockout stage
2  DR Congo 3 1 1 1 4 7 −3 4[a]
3  Morocco 3 1 1 1 4 9 −5 4[a]
4  Egypt 3 0 0 3 2 14 −12 0
Source:
Rules for classification: Group stage tiebreakers
(H) Hosts
Notes:
  1. 1 2 Tied on head-to-head points. Overall goal difference: DR Congo −3, Morocco −5.
Nigeria 8–0 Morocco
Report
DR Congo 4–1 Egypt
Morocco 4–1 Egypt
Nigeria 6–0 DR Congo
Morocco 0–0 DR Congo
Nigeria 6–0 Egypt

Group B

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Ghana 2 2 0 0 7 1 +6 6 Advance to knockout stage
2  Cameroon 2 1 0 1 4 5 −1 3
3  South Africa 2 0 0 2 2 7 −5 0
Source:
Rules for classification: Group stage tiebreakers

 Mozambique was also drawn into this group, but withdrew before playing.

Ghana 4–0 South Africa
Cameroon 3–2 South Africa
Ghana 3–1 Cameroon

Knockout stage

 
Semi-finalsFinal
 
      
 
27 October - Kaduna
 
 
 Nigeria6
 
31 October - Ijebu Ode
 
 Cameroon0
 
 Nigeria2
 
27 October - Kaduna
 
 Ghana0
 
 Ghana (a.e.t.)4
 
 
 DR Congo1
 
Third place play-off
 
 
30 October - Ijebu Ode
 
 
 Cameroon3 (1)
 
 
 DR Congo (p)3 (3)

Semi-finals

Winners qualified for the 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup in the United States.

Nigeria 6–0 Cameroon
Ghana 4–1 DR Congo

Third place play-off

DR Congo 3–3 (a.e.t.) Cameroon
Penalties
3–1

Final

Nigeria 2–0 Ghana
Attendance: 30,000

Awards

 1998 African Women's Championship winners 

Nigeria
3rd title

Statistics

Team statistics

Pos. Team Pld W D L Pts GF GA GD
1  Nigeria 5 5 0 0 15 28 0 +28
2  Ghana 4 3 0 1 9 11 4 +7
3  DR Congo 5 1 2 2 5 8 14 −6
4  Cameroon 4 1 1 2 4 7 14 −7
Eliminated in the group stage
5  Morocco 3 1 1 1 4 4 9 −5
6  South Africa 2 0 0 2 0 2 7 −5
7  Egypt 3 0 0 3 0 2 14 −12
—  Mozambique 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Total 12(1) 11 1(2) 11 35 62 62 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)

Goalscorers

3 goals
2 goals
1 goal
Unknown scorers

Controversies

During the tournament, Nigerian Iyabo Abade's shorts were pulled down in the middle of a pitch by an opponent, after Ayabo was suspected to be intersex. Ayabo later described the incident as one of the worst experiences of her life.[3][4]

References

  1. 1 2 "Enkonge ezizze zeekiika mu kkubo lyagwo" [The cones that have been lurking in its path]. Bukedde Online (in Ganda). 12 January 2012. Archived from the original on 13 November 2017. Retrieved 12 November 2017.
  2. ↑ "History of CAF Women's Championship". The Nation. Nigeria. 10 November 2006. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 23 December 2016. Title given copied from the title of the site page.
  3. ↑ "Ich bin, wer ich bin" [I am who I am]. 11freunde.de (in German). Retrieved 1 June 2025.
  4. ↑ "Breaking new boundaries". BBC News. Retrieved 1 June 2025.
This page is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.