CAF have reinstated Equatorial Guinea to the 2018 African Women’s Nations Cup, which will hold in Ghana later this month. Equatorial Guinea had initially been banned by CAF after Kenya protested the inclusion of Annette Jacky Messomo in the Equatorial Guinean team that played against Kenya in the qualifiers.
Equatorial Guinea has been infamous for fielding Nigerians, Cameroonians, Brazilians Ghanaians, Burkinabes and even men in their female national team. They were banned from participating in the last Nations Cup because they fielded an ineligible player in the qualifiers.
The most infamous case of cheating by the Equato-Guineans was the case of the Simpore “Sisters”, Salimata and Bilguisa. Nigerian, Ghanaian and South African players at the 2010 African Championships complained that the Simpore Sisters were actually men. A journalist conducted an investigation into the matter and he discovered that the sisters were actually boys from Burkina Faso who had played in a regional tournament in their home country. Equatorial Guinea hired a Brazilian coach ahead of the 2011 World Cup and he refused to include the sisters in his team. He later confessed, after leaving the job, that the sisters were actually men.
Annette Jacky Messomo is a Cameroonian and she was in the Cameroonian team to the 2014 Nations Cup, although she did not play a single game. She started playing for Equatorial Guinea in 2016 and she played for them against Kenya in the Nations Cup qualifiers. Kenya protested her inclusion in the team (stating that she had not been cleared to play for Equatorial Guinea) and CAF consequently banned Equatorial Guinea from the Nations Cup. However, in the past week, the Kenyans have been complaining that they don't have enough money to send their team to Ghana and the CAF appeals committee has now reinstated Equatorial Guinea to the Nations Cup. This means that Kenya is out of the Nations Cup.
Equatorial Guinea beat Nigeria in the semi-final of 2008 African Women’s Championships, the first team to have ever achieved the feat. They are also the only other team, apart from Nigeria, to have won the championship. They beat South Africa in the finals of the 2008 and 2012 championships. However, Nigeria defeated Equatorial Guinea in the final of the 2010 edition of the competition.
Nigeria, South Africa, Zambia and Equatorial Guinea are drawn in the same group in the 2018 Nations Cup.
The president of the Football Kenya Federation has vowed to proceed to the Court of Arbitration for Sports if Kenya is excluded from the Nations Cup
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