The calendar of world women’s soccer going-on’s is immensely crowded this week but the kick-off of the ninth edition of the CAF African Women’s Championship is not to be overlooked. The biennial tournament got underway last weekend, and is the first international football tournament to be staged in South Africa since the 2010 FIFA World Cup this summer.

Seven teams plus the home nation will vie for a berth in the 2011 FIFA Women’s World Cup. The pair of finalists will represent Africa in the World Cup next summer. The all-important semifinals will occur on November 11 while the final will take place on November 14.

Due to disappointingly minimal exposure of the tournament, decent coverage is hard to come by. Cafonline.com may be the best resource for match reactions, photos and the latest news.

Africa has made marked strides in the women’s game as of late. Much like the United States has historically dominated the continent of North America, Nigeria have been the traditional standard-bearers of African women’s football. The Super Falconets are just one of four teams to have appeared in every edition of the FIFA Women’s World Cup (the others being the United States, Sweden and Norway). The team’s best World Cup finish occurred in the 1999 Women’s World Cup when the team lost 4-3 to Brazil in the quarterfinals after rallying to score three second half goals in just 22 minutes.

Over the past seven years, the Super Falconets have averaged a respectable FIFA world ranking of 25. Additionally, the team has won eight of the nine CAF African Women’s Championships.

Nigeria’s U-20 Women’s National Team earned high praise after narrowly losing to Germany in the 2010 U-20 Women’s World Cup Final this summer. The team’s tight defending and muscular play tested Germany like no opponent had prior. It was the first time an African team had made it to the final of a FIFA women’s football tournament and the Super Falconets were treated with scholarships when they arrived back home. The team helped lift the spirits of the country after Nigeria’s vapid performance in the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

Nigeria join South Africa, Ghana, Cameroon and recent upstarts Equatorial Guinea as the strongest competition Africa has to offer women’s soccer. Just how dominant have these five teams been? In the past nine editions of the tournament, a tandem of these five teams has always appeared in the Final. Cameroon, South Africa and Ghana have all been runners-up twice while Equatorial Guinea – population 676,000 – became the first nation other than Nigeria to win the tournament in 2008. Equatorial Guinea burst on to the scene when the team narrowly missed out on qualifying for the 2007 Olympics. The national team hosted the 2008 CAF African Women’s Championship and upset Nigeria 1-0 in the semifinals before besting South Africa 2-1 in the final. 19 year-old Genoveva Anonma stole the tournament, scoring six goals in five games.

(Random tidbit: Equatorial Guinea is one of the few territories on the African mainland where Spanish is an official national language.)

The aforementioned five countries join Mali, Tanzania and North Africa’s only representative Algeria in the group stage of this year’s tournament. Qualifying took place over March, May and June this year. Mali has appeared in every edition since 2000 while Tanzania will be making their tournament debuts.

Groups and recent results after the jump.

The two countries have been drawn together with Nigeria and South Africa in Group A while Algeria will join Ghana, Equatorial Guinea and Cameroon in Group B.

After one game played thus far, Nigeria and South Africa are tied on three points in Group A. South Africa defeated Tanzania by the slenderest of margins after needing a late penalty kick in the 87’. Nigeria, on the other hand, got off to a rip-roaring start, blanking Mali 5-0. Nigeria’s striking stalwart and captain Perpetua Nkwocha has appeared in the last two Women’s World Cups and the previous three Olympic games. The 34 year-old tallied a first half hat-trick in her team’s opening group game, extending her goal record for Nigeria.

Mali and Tanzania face off tomorrow for what could be the final game before elimination for both teams.

In Group B, Ghana scored two second half goals to overcome an early 1-0 deficit to Algeria. The Black Queens are on top of Group B after Equatorial Guinea and Cameroon played to a 2-2 draw. The defending champions went into halftime with a 2-0 lead before Cameroon fought back to salvage a point.

On Friday, Equatorial Guinea meet Algeria while Ghana have a chance to retain possession of Group B as they look to see off Cameroon.

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