Will it hold or not? Officially, the 2026 Women’s AFCON is scheduled to start in Morocco on March 17 next year and end on April 3. However, on the ground, there is no indication that such an event is imminent. The information gathered by Sport News Africa indicates a postponement, possibly in August. Several federations have also been informed by the CAF, while the teams have already started their preparation. Faced with this uncertainty and especially the lack of communication from the CAF, South Africa decided to put its foot in it.
«We will not be taken hostage»
The South African Minister of Sports, Gayton McKenzie, stepped up this Wednesday to denounce a management that he considers disrespectful for women’s football. “The situation around the women’s AFCON is very worrying,” he said at the outset, before directly pointing to the responsibility of the host country, Morocco, and the continental body.
“We will not let women’s football be treated in this way,”
the South African leader said. In a muscular statement, he confronted Morocco with its responsibilities, while extolling the superiority of its own country’s infrastructures:
“If Morocco is ready to host the AFCON Women’s after a successful AFCON, let it do so. If he is not, we want to tell him that we (South Africa, editor’s note) have stadiums and that we are not a country with less infrastructure. We will never let ourselves be held hostage by countries less well equipped than us.”
A jab related to Morocco’s defeat against Senegal?
Beyond the logistical issues, Gayton McKenzie slipped into a more polemical field, insinuating that the Moroccan desire to postpone the Women’s AFC could be linked to a form of sporting resentment after the last Men’s AFC, won by Senegal on Moroccan soil and under sanctions after the final, deemed unfair by Morocco which appealed.
«Should everyone suffer because Senegal has won the men’s AFCON? If Senegal hadn’t won the final, would we still be in this uncertainty?”
he wondered publicly.
To conclude, the minister sent a direct dig at the ego of the Cherifian kingdom: “Morocco must accept that football is a game: sometimes we win, sometimes we lose.”
South Africa ready to take over
Faced with what she considers a lack of will, Pretoria officially places itself in plan B. “We are not waiting for anyone. If Morocco does not want to host the competition, South Africa is ready,” said the minister.
Faced with the magnitude of the controversy and the imminence of the deadline, CAF was forced to step out of its reservation. Luxolo September, Director of Communication for the instance, tried to ease the spirits on his account X:
«CAF will communicate in the next 48 hours about the situation regarding the Women’s AFCON 2026. Discussions have taken place in recent weeks. The file is receiving urgent and high-level attention.”
The countdown is on.