At last, CAF expands AWCON to 12 team event, adopts one-leg final for Champions League

By Harry Awurumibe

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has expanded the African Women’s Cup of Nations (AWCON) from eight to 12 teams starting from the 2020 tournament.

This piece of information was dropped earlier today via the social media by no less a person than the CAF President, Ahmad Ahmad in Cairo, Egypt.

“With @CAF_Online’s #exco, we took a great decision today: feminine’s #AFCON will now engage 12 teams! They only were 8 until now,” President Ahmad Ahmad announced via his Twitter account.

According to Ahmad, the decision was ratified at its executive board meeting held on Wednesday in Egypt, where the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations is currently taking place.

Nigeria’s Super Falcons are the defending champions after a 4-3 penalty win against South Africa in last year’s final in Ghana.

The Super Falcons are the most successful team in AWCON history, with nine titles followed by Equatorial Guinea with two.

Following Congo’s withdrawal last week, 2020 hosts and formats of the new 12-team tournament are yet to be revealed.

Meanwhile, it was also disclosed that the CAF Executive Committee at its meeting on Wednesday made decisions regarding the management of some football competitions across the continent.

Among the top decisions include the directives that henceforth the club competitions including the CAF Champions League and CAF Confederations Cup final will now be a one-leg affair held at a neutral ground.

The decision to change from a two-legged final follows this year’s controversial Champions League final between Esperance Tunis and Morocco’s Wydad Casablanca, which is yet to be resolved.