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The Confederation of African Football, CAF, has confirmed Morocco as host of the 2026 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations.
There were reports that Morocco will pull out from hosting the competition with South Africa on standby to step in.
CAF’s President, Patrice Motsepe, however, poured cold waters on the rumours during his interaction with the media in Dar es Salam, Tanzania on Friday.
Motsepe also confirmed that the date for the WAFCON 2026 finals remain unchanged.
Morocco also hosted the last two editions of the WAFCON.
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The competition will run from 17 March to 3 April, 2026.
It will also serve as the qualifier for the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
The four semi-finalists will qualify for Brazil 2027
A dangerous goalkeeping error inside six minutes unleashed one of the most comprehensive dismantlings of Barcelona in recent cup memory, as Atletico Madrid scored four times in an extraordinary first half to seize control of their Copa del Rey semi-final at the Metropolitano on Thursday night.
Diego Simeone’s side inflicted a 4-0 defeat on the holders, with Antoine Griezmann, Ademola Lookman, and Julian Alvarez all scoring to compound the catastrophe of a Joan García own goal that set the tone for an evening Barcelona will want to forget. The result leaves Hansi Flick’s side needing to score at least four times without reply in the second leg at Camp Nou on March 3 to advance to the final in Seville.
The damage began in the seventh minute when Joan García tried to control Eric García’s harmless-looking back pass, only for the ball to squirm under his boot outside the six-yard box. García turned and dived desperately to keep it from crossing the line but arrived too late. He swatted the ball back into play, and Lookman sent it into the net, though the ball had already crossed the line.
Within eight minutes, the lead was doubled. A flowing combination between Nahuel Molina and Griezmann released the Frenchman to sweep the ball into the bottom corner, scoring against his former club for a second time this season.
Barcelona almost reduced the deficit in the 19th minute when Fermín López crashed a volley against the crossbar from a corner, while Álvarez had a goalbound effort hooked off the line by Jules Koundé. Those moments of resistance proved fleeting. In the 33rd minute, Giuliano Simeone charged down the left and played in Álvarez, who flicked a first-time pass into the path of Lookman, who drilled a low finish past García.
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Flick turned to Robert Lewandowski early, withdrawing Marc Casado in the 37th minute in an attempt to alter the dynamic, but the substitution had no immediate effect. In first-half stoppage time, Lookman and Álvarez combined once more. The Nigerian’s cutback was met by the Argentine, who drilled a composed finish into the top corner to complete an extraordinary 45 minutes.
Álvarez ended an 11-game scoring drought with the goal, a milestone Diego Simeone acknowledged after the match, saying the strike would help his striker reset mentally.
Barcelona arrived at the Metropolitano without Raphinha, Marcus Rashford, and Pedri, all sidelined through injury, significantly weakening a squad that had won the Spanish Super Cup just weeks earlier. Despite enjoying 70 percent of possession across the first half, the Catalans offered little cohesion or defensive solidity. The second half brought partial redemption in terms of control, but no goals. Juan Musso denied Fermín López from close range early in the second period as Barcelona pressed for a lifeline. The closest they came was in the 52nd minute when Pau Cubarsi turned in a rebound from a free kick, only for VAR to rule out the effort for offside after a review lasting nearly six minutes.
Atletico nearly extended the lead when Alexander Sørloth found himself unmarked with an open net but failed to convert what should have been a straightforward fifth goal.
Barcelona’s misery was completed in the 85th minute when Eric García, who had inadvertently created the first goal with his ill-fated back pass, lunged recklessly on Alex Baena as the substitute broke clear. The referee produced a yellow card before upgrading it to a straight red following a pitchside monitor review, leaving Barcelona to finish the match with ten men.
Defender Marcos Llorente described the performance as everything the team had prepared for. “The team did everything right. We stuck together at the back, we didn’t sit back, we pressed high up the pitch, we broke up the space really well. Everything went our way,” he told Movistar Plus.
