Less than two weeks before kickoff, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) announced plans to postpone this month's Women's Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) finals, citing "unforeseen circumstances."
Originally scheduled to start in Morocco on Tuesday, March 17th, and run through Friday, April 3rd, the 2026 WAFCON competition functions as a 2027 World Cup qualifying event for African national teams.
"Preparations for the TotalEnergies CAF WAFCON 2026 are underway and all the parties are confident that it will be very successful," CAF said in a statement on Thursday.
CAF's tournament finals will now run from Saturday, July 25th, to Sunday, August 16th — a shift that could pose challenges for NWSL clubs who will likely miss major players for a full month in the middle of the league's 2026 season.
NWSL stars like back-to-back reigning MVP Temwa Chawinga (Kansas City Current, Malawi), 2024 MVP finalist Barbra Banda (Orlando Pride, Zambia), and reigning WAFCON champion Michelle Alozie (Chicago Stars, Nigeria) are all probable call-ups to their national team rosters for the continental competition — among others.
Between the WAFCON scheduling shift and the US league's previously set month-long June pause for the 2026 Men's World Cup, NWSL fans are now unlikely to see some of the league's top athletes for much of the summer.
