Cameroon weren't even supposed to be at this tournament. Six weeks before kick-off, they didn't have a head coach. They only got in because CAF expanded the field from 12 to 16 teams and handed out places by FIFA ranking. None of that mattered on Sunday — the Indomitable Lionesses lifted the WAFCON trophy with a 3-0 dismantling of Malawi in the final.
Marie Ngah Manga scored twice. Naomi Eto added the third. All three goals arrived in the first half, and the result was never really in doubt. Cameroon went through the entire tournament without losing, conceding just twice in seven games, and goalkeeper Michaely Bihina took home the Golden Glove for her performances across the competition. This was clinical, composed, tournament football — from a squad assembled in a hurry under a coach who had six weeks to prepare.
Breaking a painful losing streak
The win ends a specific kind of hurt for Cameroon. They had reached the WAFCON final three times before — 2004, 2014, 2016 — and lost all three to Nigeria. That baggage has real weight. Becoming just the fourth nation to win the women's continental title since 1998, and joining Nigeria and South Africa as countries to hold both the men's and women's AFCON trophies, is the kind of landmark that redefines a programme.
Valentine Nguele, their first female head coach, achieved it in her debut tournament in charge. Six weeks of preparation, a squad that entered through the back door, and a trophy. Remarkable doesn't quite cover it.
Malawi's story deserves its own column. Ranked 153rd in the world going into the competition, they made the final on the back of Temwa Chawinga — two-time NWSL MVP and Golden Boot winner here — and her older sister Tabitha, who has won the Coupe de France with PSG and a French league title with Lyon. The two have been playing together since childhood. Their run to the final secured Malawi's first-ever Women's World Cup qualification. The Golden Boot doesn't feel like a consolation prize when the player earned it by dragging a nation into history.
Emotional weekend in the NWSL
Across the Atlantic, the NWSL had its own emotional weekend — and it was driven almost entirely by players returning from serious setbacks.
The standout moment came from Portland. Caiya Hanks, 21 years old, came off the bench in the final minutes of the Thorns' match against the Pride, having been away for 14 months following an ACL tear. She scored the winner in the closing seconds of a 2-1 victory. The celebration — surrounded by teammates including Morgan Weaver, back from her own long injury absence, and Olivia Moultrie, who just suffered an ACL tear of her own — was the kind of raw, unscripted moment that doesn't need any framing. It was what it was.
At Angel City, Sydney Leroux entered in stoppage time for her first minutes since 2024, and 21-year-old Savy King — returning from a broken foot that came after she suffered a cardiac event earlier this spring — provided the assist on the equaliser in a 1-1 draw against the Spirit. The two had been training together for months. King summed it up well: "It's really cool to be a part of her comeback story as well." Angel City sit two points off a playoff spot. Not where they planned to be, but suddenly with reasons to believe the second half of their season looks different.
- Cameroon win first WAFCON title, defeating Malawi 3-0 in the final
- Marie Ngah Manga finishes as the tournament's standout scorer with a brace in the final
- Temwa Chawinga wins the Golden Boot; Malawi qualify for their first Women's World Cup
- Caiya Hanks scores a match-winner 14 months after ACL surgery in Portland
- Savy King and Sydney Leroux both return for Angel City in a 1-1 draw with Washington
Cameroon's path to the trophy — late entry, new coach, no losses — will be studied. Their odds of going deep looked questionable before the tournament started. They ended it as continental champions.
