By Harry Awurumibe, Editor, Abuja Bureau
In nearly 70 years of the African Cup of Nations (AFCON) and 28 years of African Women’s Cup of Nations (WAFCON), no invited national team or a Special Guest team to participate in the men and women’s AFCON or WAFCON tournaments like it is the case in the UEFA and Copa América competitios), has won the continental trophy.
This is even as Cameroon will join Denmark as a country invited for a continental football championship and they went ahead to win the trophy.
Denmark, like Cameroon did not qualify for the 1992 UEFA European Championship, but received a late invitation to take part after Yugoslavia was disqualified. They went on to win the entire tournament after Denmark beat Germany 2-0. Scorers: John Jensen and Kim Vilfort.
But in Africa that narrative is about to change on Sunday if Cameroon goes ahead to beat debutants Malawi to claim the Confederation of African (CAF) trophy in the epic final of the exciting 2026 WAFCON slated for the Olympic Stadium Rabat, Morocco.
The Cameroonians who have already exceeded their own expectations by eliminating the defending champions and 10-time WAFCON winners, Nigeria in the quarter-finals match played at Stade Larbi Zaouli in Casablanca on Sunday, are poised to add ‘The Scorchers’ of Malawi in their casualty list.
To show that their defeat of the most successful team in Africa, Super Falcons, was not a fluke, the Indomitable Lionesses also eliminated host team, Atlas Lionesses to break the hearts of many Moroccan on Wednesday night.
After 120 minutes without a goal, Cameroon prevailed 3-1 in the penalty shoot-out, eliminating the hosts in front of a partisan crowd at the Moulay El Hassan Stadium in Rabat.
Although the Cameroonians will meet tough Malawians who continued their extraordinary run in the last semi-finals stage with a 3-1 victory over Algeria on Wednesday, booking their place in the WAFCON final in some style.
In fact, the sisters Tabitha and Temwa Chawinga have once again been instrumental in this exceptional campaign, providing the attacking threat and ambition for a team that has continued to break new ground throughout the tournament.
But Cameroon, driven by a particularly solid defence and the decisive saves of Portugal-based young goalkeeper Michaely Kyria Bihina, the Indomitable Lionesses have all it takes to stop Malawi on Sunday.
Should Cameroon beat Malawi in the country’s fourth appearance in the finals of WAFCON on Sunday, they will set a new record of being the first country in Africa to lift CAF premier competition’s trophy as an invited nation or guest team as that has never happened before the 14th edition of WAFCON in Morocco.
Recall, CAF has never invited teams to participate in its premier competitions till now even as the very first AFCON tournament in 1957 which featured only Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia (with South Africa disqualified due to apartheid) were competing as African member nations, not invited guests.
Unlike some continental tournaments (UEFA and Copa América) that use invitations or wildcards for outside federations, AFCON participants must go through official qualification stages or qualify automatically as hosts.
HOW DID CAMEROON GET HERE
Cameroon came to the 14th edition as wildcard or guest team as Algeria defeated the Cameroon women’s national football team in the final round of the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) 2026 qualifiers in October 2025, winning 3–1 on aggregate after a 2–1 victory in Algiers and a 1–0 win in Douala.
Dead and buried, the Indomitable Lionesses were give a second chance to live by CAF following the expansion of 2026 WAFCON from 12 to 16 teams and needing four more teams to fill the four extra spots.
The Confederation in its wisdom invited four guest teams in Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Mali, and Egypt to complete a new 16-team tournament format based on their rankings after the qualifiers.
CAF said it expanded the tournament size from 12 to 16 teams to grow women’s football, picking the highest-ranked teams from the final qualification round.
Ironically, only one team from the qualifiers Algeria and host country Morocco made it to the last four while two invited guests Cameroon and Ivory Coast are still alive in Morocco with Cameroon sure of either Gold or Silver medals and Ivory is in the FIFA Women’s World Cup Play-off situation too.
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