| Tourney Name: | WAFU Zone A Women's Cup |
| Year: | 2023 |
| Other Titles: | 2023 UFOA Zona A Copa Feminina |
| City: | Espargos |
| Dates: | 20 January – 1 February 2023 |
| Num Teams: | 7 |
| Sub-Confederations: | 1 |
| Venues: | 1 |
| Cities: | 1 |
| Count: | 2 |
| Matches: | 13 |
| Goals: | 44 |
| Top Scorer: | (9 goals) |
| Player: | Ivânia Moreira |
| Goalkeeper: | Tening Séné |
| Prevseason: | 2020 |
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]
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 | data-sort-type="number" | Appearance | Previous best performance | data-sort-type="number" | FIFA ranking December 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2nd | Fourth Place (2020) | ||||
| 2nd | Group Stage (2020) | ||||
| 2nd | Group Stage (2020) | ||||
| 2nd | Group Stage (2020) | ||||
| 1st | |||||
| 2nd | Champions (2020) | ||||
| 2nd | Group Stage (2020) |
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 | |
|---|---|
| Estádio Marcelo Leitão | |
| Capacity: 8,000 | |
these officials were appointed by WAFU A to officiate the tournament.
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.
| width=50% | Pot 1 | width=50% | Pot 2 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| valign=top | (hosts) (84) (title holders) | valign=top | (123) (136) (138) (171) |
See main article: article and 2023 WAFU Zone A Women's Cup squads. Each team was required by WAFU-UFOA to name a squad of a minimum of 20 players (three of whom must be goalkeepers).
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):
--------
--------
A player was automatically suspended for the next match for the following offences:
The following suspensions were served during the tournament:
Liberia's withdrawal from the competition after initially confirming its participation sparked high criticism among Liberians at home, especially Liberia women's National team players who showed a huge disappointment in the government and in the Liberian Football Association. Liberia's women's team's former captain Bantu Jestina Wilson stated that she felt frustrated and disappointed and that there was no lack of funding because the Ministry of youth and sports never supported the team or the women's football in the first place.