Financial limitations are the main reason why the Confederation of African Football (Caf) will not increase the number of teams competing or switch to copy the structure of the 16-team men’s equivalent, which uses home and away games across six group-stage matches before two-legged knockout ties from the quarter-finals onwards.
“We cannot afford home and away matches,” said Meske Goshime, the head of the women’s game at Caf.
“Our clubs are not financially strong [enough] to travel three or four times and play home and away. Travelling in Africa is not really easy – you have to catch flights, travel sometimes for 24 hours.
“Zonal qualifiers will continue for some time.
“We want more member associations engaging in the qualifiers before we can push it forward and say that we need a 12-team or a 16-team final.”
