South Africa claims first WAFCON title with win against Morocco
Players of South Africa celebrate with the trophy after the 2022 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations final match between Morocco and South Africa at Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium in Rabat, Morocco on July 23, 2022. (Photo by Jalal Morchidi/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
After years of disappointment, South Africa captured its first-ever Women’s Africa Cup of Nations title, downing Morocco 2-1 in Saturday’s final.
Hildah Magaia notched a second-half brace to put South Africa ahead before the team weathered a late push from Morocco to secure the victory. A lively crowd filled the 53,000-seat Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium in Rabat, Morocco, with South Africa keeping their poise despite the raucous fans.
Saturday marked redemption for South Africa after losing in its four previous Africa Cup of Nations finals dating back to 2000.
“To finally get to this point meant a lot for everyone. When the final whistle went out, I was crying. It was the most humbling and emotional experience,” captain Refiloe Jane told BBC Sport Africa after the match. “I don’t think I’ve ever cried so much after a football match – that goes to show our journey, everything that we had to go through and things have finally come together.”
South Africa’s title secures the team a spot in the 2023 World Cup, with Morocco and Zambia joining the winners in Australia and New Zealand as the representatives from the Africa Cup of Nations.
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WNBA Preseason Games End as Teams Make Final 2025 Roster Cuts
Atlanta Dream rookie Te-Hina PaoPao scored 14 points against Indiana on Saturday. (Adam Hagy/NBAE via Getty Images)
There's just one WNBA preseason game left on the 2025 calendar, as 12 of the league's 13 teams wrapped exhibition play over the weekend ahead of Friday's regular-season tip-off.
To reach league compliance, Chicago waived Australian guard Alex Wilson, 2024 second-round draft pick Jessika Carter (Mississippi State), and former Mercury forward Morgan Bertsch.
Earning their official spots in the Sky's lineup are 2025 rookies Hailey Van Lith (TCU) and Maddy Westbeld (Notre Dame), the overall No. 11 and No. 16 picks, respectively, in April's draft.
Overall, the class of 2025 is performing well so far, with all first-round picks avoiding early roster cuts — though many teams are still deciding who will suit up on opening day.
Some second-rounders are also showing significant promise, with the Atlanta Dream's 18th overall pick Te-Hina PaoPao (South Carolina) scoring a team-leading 14 points against Indiana on Saturday.
Capping the 2025 WNBA preseason are the reigning champion New York Liberty, who will take on Japan's Toyota Antelopes on Monday night.
The exhibition will see Liberty stars Sabrina Ionescu and Nyara Sabally — who notably saw her contract extended through 2026 by New York on Monday afternoon — return to their University of Oregon alma mater for the clash.
The Liberty will tip off against the Antelopes at 10 PM ET, with live coverage airing on WNBA League Pass.
Dee Lab
May 12, 2025
FIFA Expands 2031 Women’s World Cup Field, Sanctions Afghan Refugee Team
The World Cup field will expand to 48 teams in 2031. (Mark Metcalfe - FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)
The decision to expand the World Cup aims to "broaden representation, offering more nations and players access to elite competition and accelerating investment in women's football worldwide," according to the FIFA release.
"The FIFA Women's World Cup 2023, the first in which teams from all confederations won at least one game and teams from five confederations reached the knockout stage, among many other records, set a new standard for global competitiveness," said FIFA President Gianni Infantino.
"This decision ensures we are maintaining the momentum in terms of growing women’s football globally."
The expanded 2031 World Cup, hosted by the US, will adopt a 12-group format, increasing the total number of matches from 64 to 104 while extending the competition for an additional week.
The World Cup expansion announcement comes on the heels of last month's increased Olympic tournament news, with the IOC boosting the women's soccer field to 16 teams at the 2028 LA Games.
The decision also puts the women's competition in line with the men's World Cup, which will feature FIFA's first 48-team tournament in 2026.
FIFA is creating an official refugee team for evacuated Afghan women's players. (Kelly Defina/Getty Images)
FIFA approves Afghan women's refugee team
In the same Friday announcement, the FIFA Council also approved the creation of an Afghanistan women's refugee team, which would provide evacuated Afghan women players the ability to compete on an officially recognized FIFA team.
While FIFA requires that national federations sponsor teams, the Afghan Football Federation ceased acknowledging its women's team once the Taliban-controlled government banned women's sports.
Originally formed by the country's Olympic Committee in 2007, the Afghanistan women's national team has not played a FIFA-recognized match since 2018, and most of its athletes fled the country amidst the Taliban's second takeover in 2021.
Since then, players have petitioned FIFA for the opportunity to compete. Their efforts earned a one-year trial phase from the governing body on Friday, though the success of the program could see it expanded to refugees from other nations in the future.
"We are happy that FIFA has created a pathway for Afghan players to finally return to the field," team founder and former captain Khalida Popal told CNN on Friday, adding that the squad "remain[s] hopeful FIFA can amend its statutes to provide official recognition for our players as the Afghanistan Women's National Team."
Popal — who helped hundreds of Afghans, including the team, escape the Taliban — previously said the team "could show the world that Afghan women and girls belong in sport, in school and everywhere in society — and we will not be defeated."
Dee Lab
May 12, 2025
Unbeaten Chelsea FC Wins 2024/25 WSL Season
Chelsea's undefeated 2024/25 season is the winningest in WSL history. (Harriet Lander - Chelsea FC/Chelsea FC via Getty Images)
Chelsea FC is the first team in Women's Super League (WSL) history to claim an unbeaten 22-game season, adding the undefeated moniker to their sixth-straight league title with Saturday's 1-0 win over Liverpool.
The Blues' perfect season joins the previous unbeaten campaigns of 2012's Arsenal, 2016's Manchester City, and Chelsea's own 2018 squad — though those three teams did so in 14, 16, and 18 games, respectively.
Chelsea finishes the 2024/25 campaign with an astounding 19 wins and three draws, missing just six possible points on the table en route to their new WSL record of 60 points in a single season.
"As a manager, players, and staff, you only live these moments maybe once in your life," said Chelsea head coach Sonia Bompastor following Saturday's history-making win. "You need to enjoy it because it is a great achievement."
Trailing Chelsea's impressive winning tally by a full 12 points, Arsenal secured second place with a 4-3 victory over third-place Manchester United in their Saturday season finale.
The first-ever WSL Player of the Season award went to Arsenal's Mariona Caldentey. (Paul Harding - The FA/The FA via Getty Images)
WSL standouts secure individual 2024/25 awards
Though they missed the WSL's team trophy, the Gunners did claim some individual hardware this weekend, as voters selected midfielder Mariona Caldentey as the inaugural winner of the WSL Player of the Season award.
The 29-year-old Spain international led the league in shot creation, and put up nine goals and five assists on the WSL stat sheet this season.
Caldentey's teammate Alessia Russo also walked away with a trophy, sharing the Golden Boot with fourth-place Manchester City's Khadija "Bunny" Shaw after both forwards scored 12 goals each on the season.
Also sharing a stat-sheet title is Chelsea's Hannah Hampton and Manchester United's Phallon Tullis-Joyce, who claimed the 2024/25 WSL Golden Glove award behind 13 clean sheets apiece.
Meanwhile, the season's WSL Rising Star award went to ninth-place West Ham striker Shekiera Martinez. After spending the first half of the 2024/25 season on loan to Bundesliga side SC Freiburg, the 23-year-old German international notched an astounding 10 goals in her 12 total WSL matches.
Speaking of impressive scoring, Manchester City forward Vivianne Miedema's stellar chip against Aston Villa in January earned the Dutch star the 2024/25 WSL Goal of the Season title.
No. 1-seed Texas A&M leads a record 14 SEC teams in the 2025 NCAA softball tournament bracket. (David Buono/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
For the first time in program history, Texas A&M is the No. 1 seed in the NCAA softball tournament, with the Aggies staving off four-time reigning champion Oklahoma for the honor in Sunday's 2025 bracket drop.
After adverse weather canceled their conference title game on Saturday, the Aggies and No. 2-seed Sooners became 2025 SEC tournament co-champions, leaving the NCAA selection committee to lean heavily on each team's strength of schedule in making their top-seed decision.
"What set apart Texas A&M is they have 19 Top 25 wins, which is number one in the country," said NCAA softball committee chair Kurt McGuffin on Sunday's ESPN2 broadcast, noting the Aggies' tough nonconference schedule.
Taking on a lighter nonconference slate than usual due to massive roster turnover following the 2023/24 season, Oklahoma relied heavily on their record in a stacked SEC, finishing one half-game ahead of A&M in regular-season play.
While the Sooners look to extend their championship streak, the Aggies will be hunting their third national title and first since 1987.
Standing in their way in the 64-team bracket are a record number of familiar foes, as the SEC boasts 14 teams in the 2025 NCAA competition — the most from any single conference in tournament history.
Even more, nine of the bracket's 16 seeded teams hail from the SEC, and a full seven of the Top 8.
Florida State returns to the NCAA tournament as the highest seeded non-SEC team. (SARAH PHIPPS/THE OKLAHOMAN/USA TODAY NETWORK)
Conference champs, at-large teams score NCAA bracket spots
SEC squads aren't the only teams looking to topple Texas A&M and Oklahoma, however, as conference champions and other elite squads learned their tournament fates on Selection Sunday.
No. 5 Florida State is the highest seeded non-SEC team, despite falling 2-1 to No. 11-seed Clemson in Saturday's ACC title game. Along with No. 14-seed Duke, the ACC will see nine teams in the 2025 tournament.
Behind 2024 National Player of the Year NiJaree Canady — the nation's top pitcher — Texas Tech leads a five-team contingent from the Big 12 after securing both their conference tournament trophy and the national No. 12-seed this weekend.
In the weekend's most upset-filled conference tournament, unseeded Michigan outlasted both No. 9-seed UCLA and No. 16-seed Oregon to score a second straight Big Ten tournament title on Saturday, becoming one of eight teams repping the conference in Sunday's bracket.
Notably, the Bruins — the winningest program in NCAA softball history with 12 titles — have not entered the tournament lower than a No. 6 seed since 2016.
How to watch the 2025 NCAA softball tournament
The road to the 2025 Women's College World Series begins with Regionals, in which each of the 16 seeded teams will host a four-team double-elimination mini-tournament this weekend.
With a minimum of 96 games — and a possibility of 112 — Regional play begins at 12 PM ET on Friday, with the 64-team field narrowing to 16 by Sunday night.
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