With the fourth and final round of the CAF Women’s Olympic qualifying tournament drawing to a close this week, the stage is finally set for the women’s football tournament at the Paris 2024 Olympics this summer. Nigeria and Zambia were the last two teams to qualify, as they beat South Africa and Morocco respectively in their final ties.
Nigeria 1-0 South Africa
Nigeria were the best of the African teams at the last World Cup as they took would-be finalists England to penalties in their Round of 16 tie, so the Super Falcons would have hoped to build on that run by securing a return to the Olympics after missing out in the last three editions.
Their route to the final qualifying round had been fairly smooth as they ultimately comfortably defeated Ethiopia in the second round thanks to a big home leg before making the most of a sole goal in two legs against Cameroon. South Africa also had a bit of a surprise draw on the road in the first leg of their second-round tie against DR Congo, but they too followed up with a home win before dispatching Tanzania 4-0 on aggregate in the third round.
Both teams knew that the final playoff tie would prove to be a much tougher test with very fine margins involved. Indeed, that proved to be the case. Nigeria edged out the home leg 1-0 thanks to Rasheedat Ajibade’s penalty on the stroke of half-time, earning a win that was hardly undeserved because they were the better team on the balance of play as well.
This advantage forced South Africa to take the impetus in the second leg, but the Super Falcons crucially did not defend too deep and made sure that their opponents had to work hard to sustain pressure. Through this approach, they ensured neither team could pose a significant goal-threat, gladly taking a goalless draw that gave them a ticket to Paris for the summer.
Zambia 3-2 Morocco
Morocco got the better of Namibia and Tunisia to get within one tie of an Olympics debut, but Zambia were never going to be easy opponents. They reached the fourth round by defeating Ghana 4-3 on aggregate after a thrilling second leg in which the Black Queens fought back from a two-goal deficit before Barbra Banda’s stoppage-time winner.
Banda is the top-scoring African at the Olympics having netted back-to-back hat-tricks last time, but even that could not earn a win for the Copper Queens. Now, though, they have a much stronger squad around Banda including Racheal Kundananji–the only female footballer to command a higher transfer fee than Banda.
So, hopes were high in Zambia that they would see their team secure back-to-back appearances at the Olympics. A packed Levy Mwanawansa Stadium created a great atmosphere for the first leg, but the hosts missed some big chances and conceded from both of the shots on target they allowed to lose 1-2, with the winning goal coming four minutes after the 90.
There was a lot of work to do for Zambia in the away leg, and Banda delivered yet again. First, she equalised the aggregate scoreline with a strike in the 39th minute. Then, as the match remained locked and went to extra time, the Orlando Pride forward stepped up to take the decisive spot-kick and scored to make it a 3-2 aggregate victory for Zambia.