The tournament marked the first participation of Namibia in the African championship. Also for the first time the defending champions, Equatorial Guinea, were not taking part after failing to win their last qualifying round match.[2]
Namibia were awarded the hosting rights in October 2011. This was the first time they would appear in the final tournament.
There was some criticism of the slow preparation and campaigning for the event. The national women's league was suspended this year because all money was used for hosting the continental event.[4]
A record 25 teams applied for the 2014 African Women's Championship.[5] The top three teams from the 2012 tournament, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea and South Africa received a bye to the second round. The preliminary round was held on 13–15 February (first leg) and 28 February–2 March 2014 (second leg), while the final qualifying round was held on 23–25 May (first leg) and 6–8 June (second leg).[6]
Eight teams were divided in two groups and play a round-robin tournament. The top two placed teams advanced to the semifinals. The losers of those semifinals played in the third place match, while the winners faced off in the final. The top three placed teams qualified for the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup.
Match officials
12 referees and 15 assistants were announced on 5 October 2014.[8]
The teams are ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a tie, 0 points for a loss). If tied on points, tiebreakers are applied in the following order:[11]
Greater number of points obtained in the matches between the concerned teams;
Best Goal difference resulting from the matches between the concerned teams;
Goal difference in all group matches;
Greatest number of goals scored in all group matches;
Fair Play point system in which the number of yellow and red cards are evaluated;
In the knockout stage, if a match is level at the end of normal playing time, extra time is played (two periods of 15 minutes each) and followed, if necessary, by kicks from the penalty mark to determine the winner, except for the third place match where no extra time is played.[11]
Team(s) rendered in italics represent(s) the host nation(s). The competition's winning team is rendered in bold. (1) – Total games lost not counted in total games played (total games lost = total games won) (2) – Total number of games drawn (tied) for all teams = Total number of games drawn (tied) ÷ 2 (both teams involved)
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