2026 Women's AFCON: Group B heats up for a fiery Tuesday

The standings before the decisive matchday

Côte d'Ivoire (4 pts, +3)

Tanzania (3 pts, 0)

Burkina Faso (3 pts, -2)

South Africa (1 pt, -1)

Only Côte d'Ivoire has one foot in the quarter-finals. The other three teams are still fighting for the second qualifying spot, which promises two highly tense matches.

Burkina Faso – South Africa, proceed with caution

Buoyed by their very first victory in the history of the tournament (2-1 against Tanzania), the Burkinabè Stallions ladies approach this match with unprecedented confidence. A win or even a draw would be enough to punch their ticket to the quarter-finals. On the other side, South Africa, champions in 2022, have only collected one point from two matches and are fighting for survival in the tournament.

Burkinabè head coach Issa Balbone showed his determination, explaining that his team now has its destiny in its own hands and aims to qualify for the quarter-finals. This will be the very first meeting between the two nations at the Women's AFCON.

Stats to remember

Burkina Faso have still not kept a clean sheet at the Women's AFCON, across all editions.

South Africa (57th in the world, 2nd in Africa) remains significantly higher ranked than Burkina Faso (118th in the world, 16th in Africa), but the Banyana Banyana can no longer afford any mistakes.

Noteworthy: under the management of Desiree Ellis, South Africa has always qualified for the quarter-finals in their previous four appearances, and remains unbeaten in their final group match for the past seven editions.

Tanzania – Côte d'Ivoire for history

A win would qualify either team. Even a draw would suffice for Tanzania if, at the same time, Burkina Faso lose to South Africa. That scenario would also benefit Côte d'Ivoire. The Twiga Stars, buoyed by their historic first tournament win over South Africa, are nonetheless coming off a frustrating defeat (1-2) to Burkina Faso, and will have to do without their striker Hasnath Ubamba, who was sent off in that loss.

Facing them, the Ivorian Elephants, absent from the competition for 12 years, are having their best ever start in their Women's AFCON participations. Head coach Reynald Pedros has sought to temper the surrounding euphoria, insisting that his team does not want to get lost in calculations and is focusing solely on victory.

Stats to remember

This will be the very first match-up between the two teams at the WAFCON.

Tanzania have conceded in all eight of their matches at the WAFCON, but have also scored in their last four games in the finals phase.

When facing West African teams, Tanzania have lost all five encounters (Mali x2, Nigeria, Ghana, Burkina Faso).

Côte d'Ivoire have not kept a clean sheet in the group stage since a 5-0 win over Ethiopia in... 2012.