2023 WAFU Zone A Women's Cup

2023 WAFU Zone A Women's Cup
2023 UFOA Zona A Copa Feminina
Tournament details
Host country	Cape Verde
City	Espargos
Dates	20 January – 1 February 2023
Teams	7 (from 1 sub-confederation)
Venue(s)	1 (in 1 host city)
Final positions
Champions	Senegal (2nd title)
Runners-up	Cape Verde
Third place	Gambia
Fourth place	Guinea-Bissau
Tournament statistics
Matches played	13
Goals scored	44 (3.38 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Hapsatou Malado Diallo; (9 goals)
Best player(s)	Ivânia Moreira
Best goalkeeper	Tening Séné
Fair play award	Guinea-Bissau

The 2023 WAFU Zone A Women's Cup was the second edition of the WAFU Zone A Women's Cup, an international women's football tournament contested by the women's national association football teams of West Africa zone A organized by the West African Football Union (WAFU). The tournament was hosted by Cape Verde and took place from 20 to 29 January 2023;^[1]^[2] it was the first major WAFU A tournament to be hosted in Cape Verde. The opening match was contested between Cape Verde and Guinea-Bissau at Estádio Marcelo Leitão, Espargos, Sal Island on 20 January 2023. The final took place on 29 January 2023 at Estádio Marcelo Leitão, Espargos.

Senegal is the defending champions, having won the previous tournament. and they successfully defended their title beating hosts Cape Verde 1–0 with a penalty kick scored by Senegalese captain Korka Fall.^[3]^[4]^[5]

Participating nations

The WAFU Zone A initially announced on 5 January 2023 that 9 countries would participate in the tournament, a record number with all WAFU Zone A members association sending teams. Mauritania marked their debut in the tournament after its absence from the 2020 edition.^[6]

On 10 January 2022, Liberia confirmed its non-participation in the tournament citing a lack of funding from the government, thereby reducing the number of participating countries to 8.^[7] Two days prior to the tournament start Mali's sports minister confirmed that its country won't be able to participate in the 2nd edition of the tournament citing funding issues as the main reason for their withdrawal.^[8]

Team	Appearance	Previous best performance	FIFA ranking December 2022
Cape Verde	2nd	Fourth Place (2020)	NR
Gambia	2nd	Group Stage (2020)	123
Guinea	2nd	Group Stage (2020)	136
Guinea-Bissau	2nd	Group Stage (2020)	171
Mauritania	1st	—	NR
Senegal	2nd	Champions (2020)	84
Sierra Leone	2nd	Group Stage (2020)	138

Did not enter

Liberia (W; 164)
Mali (W; 82)

Venues

After the successful hosting of the 2021 CAF Women's Champions League WAFU A Qualifiers] in Mindelo and the 2023 WAFU Zone A Schools Football Championship in Santa Cruz, the Cape Verdean Football Federation announced that this time it would host the tournament in Sal. the FCF selected the biggest stadium in Sal to host the tournament.

Sal Island	Sal 2023 WAFU Zone A Women's Cup (Cape Verde)
Estádio Marcelo Leitão
Capacity: 8,000

Officials

these officials were appointed by WAFU A to officiate the tournament.

Referees

Suavis Iratunga
Ngum Fatou
Sylvina Garnett Welma
Yacine Samassa
Aissata Diarra
Maimouna Danfakha

Assistant referees

Evandra Furtado da Costa Lima
Jainaba Manneh
Hannah Moses
Houleye Diba
Mariam Coulibaly
Tabara Mbodji
Precious Amara

Draw

The draw for the final tournament was held on 19 January 2023, on the island of Sal. the 7 teams were drawn into two groups one with four teams with the other group with three teams.^[9]

the seven teams were allocated into two pots based on the FIFA Women's World Rankings of 9 December 2022. Pot 1 contained hosts Cape Verde (who were automatically assigned to position A1) and Senegal (who were automatically assigned to position B1). Pot 2 contained the rest of the teams.

From the December 2022 FIFA World Rankings^[10]
Pot 1	Pot 2
Cape Verde (NR) (hosts) Senegal (84) (title holders)	Gambia (123) Guinea (136) Sierra Leone (138) Guinea-Bissau (171) Mauritania (NR)

Squads

Each team was required by WAFU-UFOA to name a squad of a minimum of 20 players (three of whom must be goalkeepers).

Group stage

Teams in each group will play one another in a round-robin, with the top two teams advancing to the knockout stage.

Tiebreakers

Teams are ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss), and if tied on points, the following tiebreaking criteria are applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings (Regulations Article 71):

Points in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
Goal difference in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
Goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
If more than two teams are tied, and after applying all head-to-head criteria above, a subset of teams are still tied, all head-to-head criteria above are reapplied exclusively to this subset of teams;
Goal difference in all group matches;
Goals scored in all group matches;
Drawing of lots.

All times are in CVT (UTC-1).

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Cape Verde (H)	2	2	0	10	0	+10	6	Knockout stage
2	Guinea-Bissau	2	1	1	1	4	−3	3	Knockout stage
3	Mauritania	2	0	2	0	7	−7	0

First match(es) will be played: 20 January 2023. Source: WAFU A
Rules for classification: Group stage tiebreakers
(H) Hosts

20 January 2023

16:00

Cape Verde	4–0	Guinea-Bissau
Moreira 10', 45' Fernandes 20' Whannon 55'	Report (FCF) Report (CAF) Report (WAFU A)

Estádio Marcelo Leitão, Espargos

Referee: Ngum Fatou (Gambia)

22 January 2023

16:00

Guinea-Bissau	1–0	Mauritania
Paulo Mendes 55'	Report (FCF) Report (WAFU A)

Estádio Marcelo Leitão, Espargos

Referee: Maimouna Danfakha (Senegal)

24 January 2023

16:00

Mauritania	0–6	Cape Verde
	Report (FCF) Report (WAFU A)	Moreira 7' (pen.), 17', 28', 62', 71' Borges 59'

Estádio Marcelo Leitão, Espargos

Referee: Ngum Fatou (Gambia)

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Senegal	3	3	0	12	1	+11	9	Knockout stage
2	Gambia	3	2	1	6	5	+1	6	Knockout stage
3	Guinea	3	1	2	1	5	−4	3
4	Sierra Leone	3	0	3	1	9	−8	0

First match(es) will be played: 20 January 2023. Source: WAFU A
Rules for classification: Group stage tiebreakers

21 January 2023