Find out the full draw for the 2026 Women's Africa Cup of Nations, the football tournament taking place in Morocco from 17 March to 3 April

The group pairings for the 2026 Women's Africa Cup of Nations have been confirmed following the draw on Thursday (15 January) in Rabat.

The 14th edition of the women's football competition will feature 16 teams for the first time, expanded from 12 at the previous tournament.

The tournament will take place in Morocco for the third consecutive time, from 17 March to 3 April 2026.

Nigeria are the defending champions, having beaten hosts Morocco in the final for the second tournament in a row to secure their tenth title in 2025.

Of the 16 qualified teams, nine also featured at the 2024 edition. Botswana, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Tunisia, who qualified in 2024, missed out this time, while Cabo Verde and Malawi will make their first appearances in the tournament.

Apart from the trophy, teams will also be fighting for qualification tickets for the 2027 FIFA World Cup to be hosted in Brazil.

The four semi-finalists will secure automatic qualification, while the losing quarter-finalists will enter a play-off to decide Africa’s two representatives in the inter-confederation play-offs.

The draw, which took place inside the Mohamed VI Complex just outside of Rabat, saw former Kenya international Beldine Odemba and current Morocco national team goalkeeper Khadija Er-Rmichi assisting with procedures.

The 16 qualified teams were seeded into four pots based on the FIFA Women’s World Rankings of 11 December 2025.

Hosts Morocco were automatically placed in position A1, with defending champions Nigeria assigned C1.

Groups A and B will be based in the capital Rabat, with Group C in Casablanca and Group D in Fes.

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) will confirm fixtures and kick-off times at a later date.

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