| Year: | 2004 |
| Dates: | 18 September – 3 October |
| Country: | South Africa |
| Num Teams: | 8 |
| Venues: | 3 |
| Cities: | 3 |
| Count: | 6 |
| Matches: | 16 |
| Goals: | 48 |
| Prevseason: | 2002 |
| Nextseason: | 2006 |
The 2004 African Women's Championship was the 6th edition of the biennial African women's association football tournament organized by the Confederation of African Football held in South Africa, who were elected as hosts on 12 December 2003,[1] between 18 September and 3 October 2004.
Nigeria beat Cameroon 5–0 in the final to win its 6th title.
See main article: 2004 African Women's Championship qualification. South Africa qualified automatically as hosts, while the remaining seven spots were determined by the qualification rounds which took place from May to July 2004. The defending champions receives no automatic qualification from this edition of the tournament onwards.
Qualification ties were played on a home-and-away two-legged basis. If scores were tied after the second leg, the away goals rule would be applied and if still level, extra time would be skipped and will use the last-resort tie breaker of a penalty shoot-out.
The seven winners of the qualification round qualified for the group stage.
Algeria made their tournament debut at this edition.
| Team | Qualified as | Qualified on | data-sort-type="number" | Previous tournament appearances |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hosts | 12 December 2003 | 4 (1995, 1998, 2000, 2002) | ||
| 23 July 2004 | Debut | |||
| 24 July 2004 | 5 (1991, 1995, 1998, 2000, 2002) | |||
| 24 July 2004 | 5 (1991, 1995, 1998, 2000, 2002) | |||
| 25 July 2004 | 4 (1991, 1998, 2000, 2002) | |||
| 25 July 2004 | 1 (2002) | |||
| 25 July 2004 | 2 (2000, 2002) | |||
| July–August 2004 | 1 (2002) |
The qualified teams were divided into two groups of four teams each. The top two in each group advanced to the semi-finals.The teams were ranked according to the three points for a win system. (3 for a win, 1 for a draw and none for a loss)
If two or more teams in the group stage are tied on points tie-breakers are in order:
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At this stage, if a match is level at the end of 90 minutes and additional playing time, extra time, except for the third place match, is played and followed by a penalty shoot-out if necessary.
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| width=25 | width=165 | Team | width=25 | width=25 | width=25 | width=25 | width=25 | width=25 | width=25 | width=25 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 18 | 2 | +16 | 13 | |||||||||||
| 2 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 8 | 10 | –2 | 8 | |||||||||||
| 3 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 2 | +5 | 10 | |||||||||||
| 4 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 8 | –4 | 5 | |||||||||||
| Eliminated in the group stage | |||||||||||||||||||
| 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4 | –1 | 4 | |||||||||||
| 6 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 7 | –3 | 3 | |||||||||||
| 7 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 8 | –6 | 1 | |||||||||||
| 8 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 7 | –5 | 0 | |||||||||||