Cameroon took control of the 2026 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations final with two first-half goals against Malawi, moving 2-0 ahead in Rabat, Morocco. Marie Ngah Manga headed in the opener midway through the half, and Naomi Eto added a second later on with a swivelling finish.
The lead matters because Cameroon arrived in the final chasing a first WAFCON title after finishing runners-up on three previous occasions. Malawi, meanwhile, were playing in their first-ever appearance in the tournament, which made the early deficit all the more difficult to absorb inside the Moulay El Hassan Stadium.
Cameroon had not found an open-play goal since Grâce Mendoua scored in a 1-1 draw against Cape Verde at the end of the group stage, and that run was broken in a move that began with Ngo Mbeleck’s dangerous cross to the back post. Mercy Sikelo, Malawi’s goalkeeper, could only tip one shot behind for a corner before Cameroon punished the set piece, and then Eto met the loose ball from the restart and drove a spinning volley into the bottom-right corner.
The first goal also carried a cleaner edge than Cameroon had managed earlier in the tournament. Ngah Manga, who came into the match as Cameroon’s top scorer with four goals, had put away three penalties on the road to the final, but her header against Malawi was her first goal from open play at WAFCON 2026. Cameroon’s fans inside the stadium reacted at once, sensing that the chance to turn long pursuit into a title was suddenly much closer.
That early pattern did not tell the whole story. Before Cameroon scored, Malawi had been described as a bit more dangerous in attack, and they had already shown enough threat to force the game into moments of pressure rather than a simple procession. Cameroon won the ball from Gondwe in midfield in the move that helped tilt the final, but Malawi’s problem was not only the mistakes; it was the speed with which Cameroon turned scraps into goals.
For Malawi, the question now is whether a first final on a first tournament visit can survive a 2-0 half-time hole against a side built for this stage. For Cameroon, the opening 45 minutes looked like the kind of start that can finally change a painful history, but the full-time result was still unwritten as the final moved on.
