2002 African Women's Championship

2002 African Women's Football Championship

Tournament details
Host country	Nigeria
Dates	7–20 December
Teams	8 (from 1 confederation)
Venue(s)	2 (in 2 host cities)
Final positions
Champions	Nigeria (5th title)
Runners-up	Ghana
Third place	Cameroon
Fourth place	South Africa
Tournament statistics
Matches played	16
Goals scored	46 (2.88 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Alberta Sackey Perpetua Nkwocha (4 goals)
← 2000 2004 →

The 2002 Women's African Football Championship was the fifth edition of the African Women's Championship (now known as the Africa Women Cup of Nations), the biennial international football championship organised by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) for the women's national teams of Africa. It was held in Nigeria between 7 December and 20 December 2002.

The tournament determined the CAF's two qualifiers for the 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup — the winner Nigeria and the runner-up Ghana. Nigeria won its fifth title, beating Ghana 2–0 in the final.

Host selection[]

In January 2001, the Botswana Football Association had confirmed that the country has submitted a bid to host the tournament.^[1] It is unknown if they withdrew from bidding later.

Nigeria were elected as hosts in March 2002 after there were no serious takers for the tournament. Nigerian officials were approached by the CAF at the 2002 African Cup of Nations finals in Mali and were keen to host the tournament. Nigeria had hosted the tournament previously, in 1998.^[2]

Qualification[]

Nigeria qualified automatically as both hosts and defending champions,^[3] while the remaining seven spots were determined by the qualifying rounds, which took place from August to October 2002.

Format[]

Qualification ties were played on a home-and-away two-legged basis. If the aggregate score was tied after the second leg, the away goals rule would be applied, and if still level, the penalty shoot-out would be used to determine the winner (no extra time would be played).

The seven winners of the final round qualified for the final tournament.

Qualified teams[]

Ethiopia and Mali made their first appearances in the tournament.

Team	Qualified as	Qualified on	Previous appearances in tournament1
Nigeria	Hosts and defending champions	19 March 2002	4 (1991, 1995, 1998, 2000)
Angola	Winners against DR Congo	11 October 2002	1 (1995)
Mali	Winners against Morocco	11 October 2002	Debut
South Africa	Winners against Zambia	12 October 2002	3 (1995, 1998, 2000)
Cameroon	Winners against Gabon	12 October 2002	3 (1991, 1998, 2000)
Ghana	Winners against Senegal	12 October 2002	4 (1991, 1995, 1998, 2000)
Ethiopia	Winners against Uganda	13 October 2002	Debut
Zimbabwe	Winners against Tanzania	13 October 2002	1 (2000)

¹ Bold indicates champions for that year. Italic indicates hosts for that year.

Officials[]

The following referees were named for the tournament:

Format[]

The eight teams were divided into two groups of four teams each. The top two teams in the groups advanced to the semi-finals. The finalists of the tournament qualified for the 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup in the United States.

The teams were ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss).

Results[]

Group stage[]

Key to colours in group tables
	Group winners and runners-up advance to the semi-finals

Group A[]

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Ghana	3	3	0	0	6	0	+6	9	Knockout stage
2	Nigeria	3	2	0	1	8	2	+6	6
3	Mali	3	0	1	2	3	9	−6	1
4	Ethiopia	3	0	1	2	2	8	−6	1

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Group B[]

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	South Africa	3	2	1	0	6	3	+3	7	Knockout stage
2	Cameroon	3	1	1	1	2	2	0	4
3	Angola	3	0	2	1	2	3	−1	2
4	Zimbabwe	3	0	2	1	2	4	−2	2

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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.

	Semifinals				Final
	17 December - Warri
	Ghana	3
					20 December - Warri
	Cameroon	2
					Ghana	0
	18 December - Warri
					Nigeria	2
	South Africa	0
	Nigeria	5
					Third place
					20 December - Warri
					Cameroon	3
					South Africa	0

Semi-finals[]

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Third-place playoff[]

Final[]

The match was held up for about 5 minutes after fans pelted a linesman with sachets of water after Alberta Sackey had not been given offside (but missed the chance anyway).

Awards[]

2002 African Women's Championship Winners
Nigeria Fifth title

Statistics[]

Team statistics[]

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Nigeria	5	4	0	1	15	2	+13	12
2	Ghana	5	4	0	1	9	4	+5	12
3	Cameroon	5	2	1	2	7	5	+2	7
4	South Africa	5	2	1	2	6	11	–5	7
Eliminated in the group stage
5	Angola	3	0	2	1	2	3	–1	2
6	Zimbabwe	3	0	2	1	2	4	–2	2
7	Mali	3	0	1	2	3	9	–6	1
8	Ethiopia	3	0	1	2	2	8	–6	1

Goalscorers[]

4 goals

3 goals

2 goals

1 goal

Unknown goalscorers

•  Cameroon: 3 additional goals

Qualified teams for FIFA Women's World Cup[]

The following two teams from CAF qualified for the 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup.

Team	Qualified on	Previous appearances in tournament1
Ghana	17 December 2002	1 (1999)
Nigeria	18 December 2002	3 (1991, 1995, 1999)

¹ Bold indicates champions for that year. Italic indicates hosts for that year.

References[]

External links[]

• Tables & Results at RSSSF.com