2014 African Women's Championship

The 2014 African Women's Championship, the 11th edition of the tournament, was held in Namibia. This tournament, organized by the Confederation of African Football, was also a qualification tournament for the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup, with top three qualifying for the finals in Canada. It was played on 11Ã¢ÂÂ25 October 2014.

The tournament marked the first participation of Namibia in the African championship. Also for the first time the defending champions, Equatorial Guinea, were not taking part after failing to win their last qualifying round match.

Nigeria defeated Cameroon 2Ã¢ÂÂ0 in the final to win their record-extending seventh title.

Host

Namibia were awarded the hosting rights in October 2011. This was the first time they would appear in the final tournament.

There was some criticism of the slow preparation and campaigning for the event. The national women's league was suspended this year because all money was used for hosting the continental event.

Qualification

A record 25 teams applied for the 2014 African Women's Championship. The top three teams from the 2012 tournament, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea and South Africa received a bye to the second round. The preliminary round was held on 13Ã¢ÂÂ15 February (first leg) and 28 FebruaryÃ¢ÂÂ2 March 2014 (second leg), while the final qualifying round was held on 23Ã¢ÂÂ25 May (first leg) and 6Ã¢ÂÂ8 June (second leg).

Qualified teams

Venues

The final tournament matches were held in two stadium venues located in Windhoek:

Format

Eight teams were divided in two groups and play a round-robin tournament. The top two placed teams advanced to the semifinals. The losers of those semifinals played in the third place match, while the winners faced off in the final. The top three placed teams qualified for the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup.

Match officials

12 referees and 15 assistants were announced on 5 October 2014.

Referees

Maximina Bernado
ThÃÂ©rÃÂ¨se RaÃÂ¯ssa
Ledia Tafesa
Christine Ziga
Aya IrÃÂ¨ne Ahoua
Damaris Kimani
Kankou Coulibaly
Insaf El Harkaoui
Fadouma Dia
Lilia Abdeljaoued
Aisha Ssemambo
Gladys Lengwe

Assistant referees

Rosalie Tempa
Botsalo Mosimanewatlala
ÃÂlodie Bieiginin
Mona Mahmoud Atallah
Trhas Gebreyohanis
Emmanuella Aglago
Mary Njoroge
Lidwine Rakotozafinoro
Bernadette Kwimbira
Fanta Idrissa KonÃÂ©
Souad Oulhaj
Aminata Dialo
Ayawa Dzodope
Chafia Hendaoui
Mercy Zulu

Squads

Group stage

The draw was held on 19 July 2014 at 19:00 local time at Windhoek, Namibia.

All times are local ().

Tiebreakers

The teams are ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a tie, 0 points for a loss). If tied on points, tiebreakers are applied in the following order:

Greater number of points obtained in the matches between the concerned teams;
Best Goal difference resulting from the matches between the concerned teams;
Goal difference in all group matches;
Greatest number of goals scored in all group matches;
Fair Play point system in which the number of yellow and red cards are evaluated;
Drawing of lots by CAF Organising Committee.

Group A

Group B

Knockout stage

In the knockout stage, if a match is level at the end of normal playing time, extra time is played (two periods of 15 minutes each) and followed, if necessary, by kicks from the penalty mark to determine the winner, except for the third place match where no extra time is played.