Lionesses ranked 3rd in Africa

Cameroon’s women’s football team has made an impressive record on the African continent and the international arena. They have competed in nine of the ten finals of the Africa Women’s Championships to date, reaching the knockout stages on eight occasions.

They were runners-up twice, finished third twice and fourth on four occasions. Besides that, they won the gold medal at the 2011 All Africa Games while they also qualified for the 2012 Olympic Games.

Cameroon competed in the inaugural Africa Women Championships in 1991, where they reached the final and lost 6-0 on aggregate home and away to Nigeria.

In 1995 they failed to make the finals after Angola beat them on a walkover, but they were back in 1998 when they finished fourth, after losing the third place play-off on penalties to the DRC.

The only time that they failed to make the knockout stages was in 2000 when they finished third in Group A behind Nigeria and Ghana in the group stages, but in 2002 they finished third overall after beating South Africa 3-0 in the bronze medal match.

In 2004 they reached the final for the second time in their history after beating Ghana 1-0 after extra time, but in the final they were no match for Nigeria who won the match 5-0.

In 2006 they finished fourth after reaching the semifinals where they were once again beaten 5-0 by Nigeria, and then losing the third place playoff on penalties to South Africa.

In 2008 they once again finished fourth after losing 4-3 on penalties to Nigeria in the third place play-off, while they lost 3-0 to South Africa in the semifinals.

In 2010, Cameroon finished fourth for the fourth time in their history after losing 2-0 to South Africa in the third place play-off match. In the semifinals they lost 5-1 to eventual champions Nigeria.

In 2012 they finished third after beating Nigeria 1-0 in the bronze medal match through a goal by Gaelle Enganamouit. In the semifinals they lost 2-0 to the eventual champions Equatorial Guinea.

2011 was a special year in Cameroon’s history as they won the gold medal at the All Africa Games while they also qualified for the 2012 London Olympic Games.

At the All Africa Games in Mozambique in August 2011, they beat South Africa 2-0 in the semifinals with Enganamouit and Gabrilee Aboudi scoring the goals, and then beat Ghana 1-0 in the final with Madeleine Ngono scoring the winner.

Their success continued two months later when they qualified for the 2012 Olympic Games after beating Nigeria 4-3 on penalties, after the teams were tied 3-3 on aggregate over two legs.

At the Olympics they however lost all their matches, 5-0 to Brazil, 3-0 to Great Britain and 3-1 to New Zealand, with Gabrielle Onguenye scoring their solitary goal.

Cameroon reached this year’s Africa Women’s Championship finals after beating Senegal 2-1 on aggregate, with Nchout Njoya and Francine Edoa scoring the goals.

Some of their most influential players are striker Madeleine Ngono, who has scored 26 goals in 42 appearances for Cameroon, midfielder Francoise Bella who has 53 caps and defender Christine Manie who has 40 caps.

Cameroon is currently ranked third in Africa and 51 in the world.