Women's Afcon will provide Banyana with a springboard for Fifa Women's World Cup 2023 qualification

Cape Town - The Africa Women's Cup of Nations (Awcon) in Morocco, will be the springboard for Banyana Banyana's passage to the Fifa Women's World Cup Australia and New Zealand in 2023.

The four teams reaching the semi-final round will earn direct qualification to the 32-team global showpiece in July next year. The 12-nation field for the Morocco tournament is one of the weakest in years. It is a direct result of the disruptive Covid-19 infections, across the continent over the past two years.

Five countries in the top-10 of African women's rankings will not be playing in Morocco. They are (African ranking, and world ranking in brackets) 4 Ghana (57), 5 Ivory Coast (61), 6 Equatorial Guinea (72), 9   Algeria (79), 10 Mali (82). Equatorial Guinea is a former two-time winner (2008, 2012) and Ghana finished runner-up three times (1998, 2002, 2006). Ivory Coast and Mali each have a top-four finish.

Hence, several countries who have made their presence felt at the continental showpiece in the past will be absent from the 2022 edition.

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In Morocco, there will be five countries with top 10 rankings in Africa. They are (African rankings, world ranking in brackets) 1 Nigeria (410, 2 Cameroon (53), 3 South Africa (56), 7 Tunisia (74) and 8 Morocco (78).

Of the remaining seven teams, five have African rankings between 11th (Senegal) and 30th (Uganda). Two teams, Burundi and Togo have no ranking. Four teams - Burkina Faso, Botswana, Burundi and Togo - will be making their Awcon debut.

Against this background, South Africa should reach the last four, if the form goes according to rankings. The 12 teams will be drawn into three groups of four