
WAFCON finally underway but faces familiar problems – DW – 07/15/2025
The rescheduled women's Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) is underway in Morocco, a year later than planned. The tournament sees some of the best players in the world fighting for glory, but as players and nations emerge, familiar problems linger that threaten to stop the tournament from reaching its full potential.
While not a traditional powerhouse, Morocco is becoming the emerging epicenter of women's football on the continent. Thanks to no competing bids and some of the best stadiums in Africa, Morocco have become a stable and safe choice for the Confederation of African Football (CAF) to host the tournament. They are hosting again this time around, after having hosted in 2022. They are also set to host in 2026.
Recent investment in the women's game in Morocco is clearly paying off. The women's team unexpectedly reached the World Cup knockout stages in 2023 and have developed star players such as captain and legend Ghizlane Chebbak, who scored a hat trick against DR Congo in the group stage of this year's WAFCON. Under Jorge Vilda, the former Spain coach who was sacked after the 2023 scandal involving former Spanish Federation President Luis Rubiales, Morocco are daring to challenge the established football forces of Nigeria and South Africa. They also have the potential to deliver lasting cultural change to both northern Africa and the rest of the continent.
Elsewhere at this year's WAFCON, Nigerian superstar Asisat Oshoala, Zambia's striking duo of Barbra Banda and Racheal Kundananji and South Africa head coach Desiree Ellis are just some of the star-studded names that make this tournament one of the most intriguing ever.
And yet, the tournament is held back from reaching its full potential by off-field decisions. As a result of the delay, scheduling for the tournament only came out at the end of May, leaving promotion somewhat last minute, especially compared to the Euros. Furthermore, with three stadiums in Morocco being renovated for the men's tournament, three smaller grounds are now being used, affecting attendance numbers.
"We don't celebrate this team enough," Ellis said of her players ahead of their opening game. "That needs to change because many of them are not full-time professionals; that's what makes it the hardest part."
Beyond the recognition that many of these teams deserve and yet still remains elusive is the question of fair financial compensation. South Africa's tournament build-up has been hampered by financial issues, with reports that players were not training and sponsors hadn't been secured. An agreement with the players has since been reached, but the team's frustration is one that sadly many other nations competing this summer will likely be able to relate to.
"Women in sports, in general, are getting the leftovers," Ellis said.
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The prize money on offer is also a contentious issue.
On the face of it, the CAF announcement that the prize fund for this year's WAFCON had been increased by 45% was positive, with the winners now receiving €853,000 ($1 million). But that total is not only less than the winners of the other two women's competitions this summer – the Euros (€1.75 million) and Copa America Femenina (€1.3 million). It is worth noting that the Euros total prize money is up by 156% from the last edition. As is often the case for most women's tournaments, the pot is considerably smaller than the men's version. While €853,000 for this year's WAFCON winners is obviously a step in the right direction, it is still a long way off the €6 million Senegal's men got for winning the AFCON in 2023.
This pay gap marks a wider issue in the women's game, which many players at this year's WAFCON have to contend with. As FIFA's annual report on women's football in March this year revealed, sustainable income remains elusive for many in the professional game. In the report, FIFA highlighted that the global average annual salary for a woman playing professional football is €9,952 ($10,900). Players at teams given the Tier 1 designation were on an average salary of €20,492 but the average of those at Tier 2 and 3 clubs was €3,719 and €2,392 respectively. While many of the 288 players at this year's WAFCON play their club football in Europe, only a handful play at top outfits. For example, only 10 play in the NWSL (top women's league in the USA) or the WSL (top women's league in England) and most of the South Africa, Botswana and Tanzania squads play domestically.
Despite the smaller crowds, the lack of adequate promotion and unique struggles of each nation, this year's WAFCON already has the makings of being the best yet. But as women's football continues to grow in Africa, the hurdles in the way – both globally and nationally – still hold women in professional football back.
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Only one team from eastern Europe made it to Euro 2025, and only three have ever made it to any Euros. The story is different in men's football, so why has women's football in the region struggled to make a mark? "This is more than a tournament. It's a movement, and the response from across Europe and beyond proves that women's football is not only here to stay – it is setting the new standard." Those were the words of Nadine Kessler, a former Germany international who is now UEFA's women's football director during Euro 2025. Much of that appears undeniable: UEFA says they sold more tickets before the group stage even began than it had in the whole of Euro 2022. Social media engagements are up 55% since then and the prize pot has increased by 156% to €41 million ($47.5 million). But, although Poland made their Euros bow this year, the movement has not quite reached the rest of the east and parts of southern Europe. 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Goran Ljubojevic, the former coach and now sporting director of serial Croatian women's champions ZNK Osijek, told DW that the region was always playing catch-up, with clubs only starting to add women's programs in the 90s, and that investment in the women's game was scarce. But he also believes societal norms are holding the sport back. "The cultural problem in our countries is that people think girls should not play football, that mostly they should stay home and be housewives or something," he told DW. The European Union's Gender Equality index, published in 2024, bears this out to some degree, with no eastern countries above the EU average. "I don't know that it will ever happen that we will see a shift in the male brain in Croatia, and that this part of Europe will ever accept women's football on that level like they do in western Europe and or the USA." But Ljubojevic, who played for NK Osijek (ZNK Osiek is the women's section of the club) and Dinamo Zagreb, said seeing sold-out stadiums and widespread interest in tournaments like the Euros is having an impact in his homeland, and the east and south of the continent more broadly. "People saw the games in the European Championship, they saw the World Cup in Australia [and New Zealand in 2023], they saw full stadiums and were like 'wow, I really didn't know that many people watch women's football.' So, something shifts in their mind. But even with that, I think the infrastructure is still not good enough for women's football to rise up here.' Despite being the most successful side in the country, ZNK Osijek draw crowds of only about 300 for their home matches. As Ljubojevic sees it, the talent is there, it just requires investment in coaching, infrastructure and paying players enough for them to be full-time professionals. UEFA has put new schemes in to place in the region in recent years, and these are starting to have an impact, according to Professor Dariusz Wojtaszyn, from the University of Wroclaw in Poland. "There have been many positive developments in recent years. They are driven by initiatives of UEFA and local football associations, which, albeit slowly, are beginning to recognize the potential of women's football," the academic, who has written extensively on eastern European women's football, told DW. "Women's football budgets have increased significantly (usually more than 100%) in all CEE [Central and Eastern European] countries. That is why I view UEFA's initiatives very positively. They really do bring tangible results." To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video UEFA told DW in a written statement that the revamped competitions, including the Champions League and Europa League "have ensured that all competitions and all final tournaments remain open and accessible to clubs and teams from all associations. Over this period we've seen impressive performances from eastern European clubs at both club, national team and youth national team level and we will continue to work with the respective associations, as we do with all our member associations, with the goal of improving performance and the development of football on a pan-European level." But Wojtaszyn thinks that the politics of the region have been holding it back. Although the communist systems that governed many of these countries until the 1990s professed to be gender-equal, they actually produced a "paternalistic model of family and traditional social relations, which limited the possibilities for women's emancipation," according to Wojtaszyn. The fall of communism then entrenched issues still further. "The collapse of the state sponsorship system that had existed in previous decades caused significant economic problems for football clubs. Under such conditions, women's football, which was generating less interest, found it extremely difficult to compete for sponsors in the free market with its male competitors. Therefore, teams struggled financially, pitches were in very poor condition and female players played amateur sports," he said. More recently, he added, the rise of right-wing parties in countries like Romania, Poland, Slovakia and Hungary — and a resurgence of "traditional" values that came with that — have made professional football an unattractive proposition for many women. Although his players still need other jobs to make ends meet, Ljubojevic has great hope for the future, even if he feels significant investment and education is required. "We have a huge talent pool, the same as in men's football, but nobody has coached them properly," he said. "It will be much, much better in a few years. I will tell you that we have great talents, we have great players, and we [ZNK Osijek] are now really working at the highest level." Poland are expecting to see a surge in participation from their Euros campaign, with national team head coach Nina Patalon predicting growth from 30,000 to 300,000 female players in the country post-tournament. Ljubojevic thinks that Croatia, and perhaps other countries in the region, need something similar to kick-start their women's football scene. Although Poland lost out on hosting 2025, and no eastern European countries have bid for 2029, he would like to see Croatia become the first country in his region to host a tournament. "Yes, we can do it. But we have to take it seriously. The federation, the country and everything — they have to invest money and time. Women's football is the new wave and we have to ride that new wave. But we are still not doing it yet."