Former Black Queens defender Faustina Ampah believes the 2025 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) in Morocco will be a pivotal moment in Nora Häuptle’s coaching career.
The Black Queens, Ghana’s senior women’s team, face a challenging group stage as they gear up for the tournament.
The draw, held on Friday night at the luxurious Mohammed VI Technical Centre in Salé, Morocco, placed the Black Queens in Group C alongside defending champions South Africa’s Banyana Banyana, Mali’s Les Aiglonnes, and Tanzania’s Twiga Stars.
𝑾𝑶𝑴𝑬𝑵’𝑺 𝑨𝑭𝑹𝑰𝑪𝑨𝑵 𝑪𝑼𝑷 𝑶𝑭 𝑵𝑨𝑻𝑰𝑶𝑵𝑺 2024 🏆
📍 We pin for Group C #BlackQueens 🇬🇭 🔥 #MissionVolta#ShineBlackQueens✨🇬🇭 #PassionDeterminationTeamwork 💪🏾 pic.twitter.com/K5qO3yEXWr
— Ghana Women National Teams 🇬🇭 (@GhanaWNT) November 22, 2024
Host nation Morocco will headline Group A, where they will face the Democratic Republic of Congo, Zambia, and Senegal.
The #TotalEnergiesWAFCON2024 final draw: ✅
Which group is the toughest? 🤩 pic.twitter.com/UNiolcvSNd
— CAF Women’s Football (@CAFwomen) November 22, 2024
Meanwhile, perennial champions Nigeria have been drawn in Group B to compete against Tunisia, Algeria, and Botswana.
Häuptle, who narrowly missed securing a spot at the 2024 Paris Olympics after a hard-fought loss to Zambia’s Copper Queens, earned widespread praise from Zambian supporters for her impressive work with the Black Queens during the final qualifying game in Lusaka.
According to Ampah, the upcoming WAFCON will be a major test for Häuptle, offering her the opportunity to make a bold statement on the continental stage.
She spoke in an exclusive interview with CitiSports.
We all can agree to it that we can probably judge her based on tournaments because she has not gone to any tournament with the team.
And also, I think the high-profile game that she played was with Nigeria or Zambia.
Now I know Morocco too, they are doing good and if I’m not mistaken, I think they had a friendly some time ago and we lost both games.
So with the tournament, we will see, because you know the tournament is different from playing one friendly match and then you go another time you come and play another game.
Tournament is a competition you play every three days so that’s when concentration and then fatigue and everything comes to it.
So that’s when we can visit how prepared the team is and how tactical she is and all other stuff.
