MATCH STATS: Mali face Ghana in TotalEnergies CAF WAFCON Morocco 2026 Group D
Mali and Ghana will look to join Group D winners Cameroon in the quarter-finals of the TotalEnergies CAF Women’s Africa Cup of Nations Morocco 2026 when they meet at the Moulay Rachid Stadium in Casablanca on Thursday, 6 August, with kick-off at 21h00 local time (20h00 GMT). Ghana will progress with a draw, while Mali need a victory to reach the last eight.
Match Facts
• The two West African rivals will meet for the sixth time at the WAFCON and at a second successive edition.
• Ghana have won three of their five previous meetings, while Mali have one victory. Their most recent clash, at the 2024 edition, ended in a draw.
• All five previous meetings have come in the group stage.
• When the teams were paired in the same group in 2002, 2006 and 2016, only Ghana progressed to the knockout rounds. Mali advanced in 2018, while both teams went through at the last edition, along with group winners South Africa.
• Ghana won the first three WAFCON meetings between the sides, beginning with a 2-0 group-stage victory in 2002. Alberta Sackey opened the scoring in the 55th minute before Mavis Dgajmah added a second in the 78th.
• Rumanatu Tahiru’s 48th-minute goal earned Ghana a 1-0 victory when they faced Mali in their opening game at the 2006 edition.
• Ghana recorded a third successive WAFCON victory over Mali with a 3-1 group-stage triumph in 2016. Linda Eshun scored in the 44th minute, Samira Suleman added a second in the 68th and Elizabeth Addo converted a penalty in the 79th to put Ghana 3-0 ahead before Binta Diarra netted an 87th-minute consolation for Mali.
• Mali effectively eliminated hosts Ghana from the 2018 tournament when they defeated them 2-1 in their second group game. Bassira Touré scored twice, converting a 24th-minute penalty and adding the winner in the 75th minute after Elizabeth Addo had equalised from the spot four minutes earlier.
• Alice Kusi scored the earliest goal in meetings between Ghana and Mali at the WAFCON when she put the Black Queens ahead in the sixth minute at the last edition. Aïssata Traoré equalised for Mali in the 52nd minute.
• Ghana have scored in all five of their previous WAFCON matches against Mali.
• Ghana have recorded the only clean sheets in this fixture, doing so in their 2-0 and 1-0 victories in 2002 and 2006.
• A total of 12 goals have been scored in the five previous meetings, with nine coming in the second half.
• Five of the 12 goals, or 42%, were scored from the 70th minute onwards. Ghana scored three of those goals and Mali two.
• Mali have scored four WAFCON goals against Ghana, with one coming in the first half and three after the break.
• Ghana have scored eight goals against Mali at the WAFCON, with two coming in the first half and six in the second.
Mali – Key Statistics
• Mali will progress to the quarter-finals with a victory.
• Should they advance, it will be the third time they have reached the knockout rounds, after also doing so in 2018 and at the last edition.
• Mali failed to progress beyond the group stage in their first six appearances before doing so at each of the last two editions.
• They lost their opening match at the current tournament 2-1 to Cameroon before defeating Cabo Verde 3-2 in their second game.
• Mali have never finished as group winners. They advanced as Group A runners-up behind Cameroon in 2018 and as one of the best third-placed teams at the last edition, finishing behind South Africa and Ghana.
• Mali have lost seven of their eight previous final group games. Their only victory was a 3-2 win over Algeria in 2018.
• They lost their final group match in 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2016 and at the last edition.
• Mali have scored six goals and conceded 23 in their previous final group games.
• They have lost their final group game by two or more goals on six occasions.
• Their heaviest defeats in a final group match were a 5-1 loss to Nigeria in 2002 and 4-0 defeats to South Africa in 2010 and at the last edition.
• Mali have only once previously won successive WAFCON group games. That came in 2018, when they defeated Ghana and Algeria in their second and third matches.
• The victory over Cabo Verde was Mali’s seventh at the WAFCON and their sixth by a single-goal margin.
• It was also the fourth time Mali had won a WAFCON match 3-2.
• Mali have scored in both of their matches at the current tournament. They have only once previously found the net in all three group games at an edition, in 2018.
• The win over Cabo Verde ended a three-match losing run and a sequence of four games without a victory.
• It was Mali’s first WAFCON win since defeating Tanzania 1-0 in their opening game at the last edition.
• Mali have conceded in each of their last five WAFCON matches. Their most recent clean sheet was in the 1-0 victory over Tanzania.
• That clean sheet against Tanzania is their only one in 29 WAFCON games.
• Mali’s four goals at the current tournament have been scored by four different players.
• Fatoumata Diarra scored against Cabo Verde to take her WAFCON tally to seven goals.
• Diarra previously scored twice in Mali’s 3-2 group-stage victory over Algeria in 2018. She also found the net in a 3-2 win over Tanzania in 2010, scored twice in a 3-2 victory over DR Congo in 2006 and netted in a 2-2 draw with Cameroon in Mali’s opening game in 2004.
• Her seven goals have come across five different WAFCON matches, and Mali have never lost when she has scored, recording four victories and one draw.
• All four matches Mali have won with Diarra on the scoresheet ended in 3-2 victories.
• Diarra has scored at five different editions of the tournament.
• She is the first Malian player, male or female, to score at five different editions of the AFCON or WAFCON. Former Mali men’s international Seydou Keita scored at four AFCON tournaments.
• Diarra scored her first WAFCON goal at the age of 18 and her latest at the age of 40.
• She is the second-oldest player to score at the WAFCON. Zambia’s Racheal Nachula was 40 years and 195 days old when she scored against Egypt at the current tournament, while Diarra was 40 years and 109 days old when she found the net against Cabo Verde.
Ghana – Key Statistics
• Ghana lost their most recent match 1-0 to Cameroon.
• The Black Queens last lost successive WAFCON group games in 2010. They opened that tournament with a 2-1 win over Algeria before suffering a 2-1 defeat to Cameroon and losing 3-1 against Equatorial Guinea.
• Ghana have won nine of their 11 previous final group games, with one draw and one defeat.
• They won their final group match at six successive editions between 1998 and 2008.
• Ghana’s only defeat in a final group game was a 3-1 loss to Equatorial Guinea in 2010.
• The only other occasion on which they failed to win their final group match was a 1-1 draw with Cameroon in 2018.
• Should Ghana progress, it will be the eighth time they have advanced beyond the group stage.
• Failure to progress would result in their fifth group-stage elimination.
• It would also be the third time Ghana had won their opening match but failed to reach the knockout rounds.
• In 2010, they defeated Algeria in their first game before losing to Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea. They again opened with a victory over Algeria in 2018 before losing to Mali and drawing with Cameroon.
• Marie Ngah Manga’s converted penalty in the 19th minute was the only shot on target Ghana faced in the defeat to Cameroon. The Black Queens managed three shots on target themselves.
• Doris Boaduwaa attempted two of Ghana’s three shots on target against Cameroon.
• Boaduwaa has been responsible for six of Ghana’s nine shots on target at the tournament, a share of 67%.
• She has a shot-conversion rate of 13%, scoring once from eight attempts, excluding blocked shots.
• Ghana completed 221 passes against Cameroon, compared with 135 by their opponents.
• The Black Queens recorded a pass-completion rate of 69%.
• Portia Boakye completed a match-high 45 passes against Cameroon.
• Corrected “their four clean sheets have been scored by four different players” to their four goals at the current tournament have been scored by four different players.