Firstly 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 swap from Morocco.
McKenzie went on to say that “South Africa has expressed its willingness to help Caf if required, ought to different internet hosting preparations for the 2026 Wafcon change into needed”.
In response, Caf president Patrice Motsepe mentioned “many” different nations had been all in favour of internet hosting Wafcon however couldn’t as a result of they needed to change the dates of the event.
Motsepe went on to insist “we will not 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 isn’t seen as a precedence.
Whereas the boys’s Afcon was merely delayed by the coronavirus pandemic, Wafcon 2020 was cancelled completely. The 2024 version was lastly performed final July, having been postponed for a yr.
This time round, with solely 12 days’ discover given, groups had been within the last levels of their preparations. Ghana’s gamers, for instance, had been already in a coaching camp within the UAE.
“It simply would not occur for different tournaments in girls’s soccer – and particularly in males’s soccer,” Ashleigh Plumptre advised Sportsworld on the BBC World Service.
The Nigeria defender, who was a part of the Tremendous Falcons aspect who secured a record-breaking tenth title final July, says the truth that the 2026 event – the primary to function 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 virtually most likely been compelled to be put on this place, is simply take daily and put together myself in one of the best ways 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 type of simply need to go along with it, as a result of you don’t have any different alternative.”
