CAF has raised the prize money from $1 million to $2 million ahead of WAFCON 2026, www.aclsports.com reports.
The announcement was made at CAF’s global press conference in Johannesburg on Wednesday and represents another significant rise in the financial reward for the WAFCON champions. The prize money stood at $200,000 when CAF President Dr Patrice Motsepe took office before rising to $1 million for the 2024 edition.
Motsepe said the increase was evidence of CAF’s commitment to supporting the growth of women’s football with tangible investment.
“We’ve increased the prize money of the WAFCON. It’s unbelievable. And that’s why I say to you, you can make all sorts of promises and say all of these nice things, but if you don’t back them up with quantifiable, visible and tangible things that people can feel and touch. When I became president, the winner of the women’s competition got $200,000. And then we got it to $1 million. Now they get $2 million.”
The increase came amid questions about the organisation of CAF’s women’s competitions following the postponement of the last two WAFCON tournaments, including the 2026 edition, which was moved from March to July. Motsepe acknowledged there was room for improvement but defended the decision to keep the tournament in Morocco.
“I think part of how you do better, or how you move in the right direction of success, is to recognise the weaknesses and things you can deal with differently and better,” he said.
Motsepe said CAF had received offers from other countries to host the tournament after it became clear that Morocco could not host it in March, but believed it would have been wrong to take the competition away from the country.
“We have to behave in a manner that is ethical, that is principled. It would have been incorrect to take it away from Morocco,” he said.
“Could we have done better? Absolutely. But we did the right thing by not having it.”
He also said the delay had allowed CAF to increase the prize money and give greater attention to the tournament.
“Besides, if we had it in February, we wouldn’t have been able to significantly increase the prize money as we have now and get lots of focus,” Motsepe said.
“Women’s football is crucial. We shouldn’t pay lip service to women’s football. We should do more than pay lip service.”
The 2026 tournament will be the first WAFCON to feature 16 teams after the competition was expanded from 12.
Morocco will host the tournament from 26 July to 16 August, with the tournament also serving as Africa’s qualifying competition for the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Brazil. The top four teams will earn direct qualification.
