2017 WAFU Cup of Nations

The 2017 WAFU Cup of Nations (also referred to as Ghana 2017) was an association football tournament that took place in September 2017 in Ghana.

2017 WAFU Cup of Nations

Tournament details
Host country	Ghana
Dates	9–24 September 2017
Teams	16 (from 1 sub-confederation)
Venue(s)	2 (in 2 host cities)
Final positions
Champions	Ghana (2nd title)
Runners-up	Nigeria
Third place	Niger
Fourth place	Benin
Tournament statistics
Matches played	24
Goals scored	44 (1.83 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Stephen Sarfo Victorien Adebayor (3 goals each)
Best player(s)	Isaac Twum
Best goalkeeper	Ikechukwu Ezenwa
← 2013 2019 →

Sixteen teams from West Africa participated. The tournament was the first featuring national teams to be arranged by Fox Sports as part of a twelve year partnership between the broadcaster and the West Africa national football associations union.^[1][2]

Originally, one of the two host cities was set to be Sekondi-Takoradi however the local organising committee changed it to Elmina due to "structural defects at the Sekondi-Takoradi Stadium and the danger it could pose to fans during the tournament".^[3]

Participants

WAFU Zone A Cape Verde  Gambia  Guinea  Guinea-Bissau  Mali  Mauritania  Senegal  Sierra Leone

WAFU Zone B Benin  Burkina Faso  Ghana  Ivory Coast  Liberia  Niger  Nigeria  Togo

Squads

Main article: 2017 WAFU Cup of Nations squads

Draw

The draw was held on 27 July at Labadi Beach Hotel in Accra.^[4] Teams were ranked using the June 2017 FIFA Rankings. Ghana were given the highest ranking due to being competition hosts.^[5]

Nation	Ranking
Ghana	49
Senegal	27
Nigeria	38
Burkina Faso	41
Ivory Coast	47
Mali	66
Guinea	72
Benin	81
Cape Verde	84
Guinea-Bissau	103
Mauritania	104
Togo	112
Sierra Leone	113
Niger	130
Liberia	151
Gambia	164

The four highest ranked national teams from WAFU Zones A and B were seeded meaning they could not be drawn against each other.

Matches

• All times listed are GMT.

First round

Zone A

Ghana	1–0	Gambia
Antigah 90+9' (pen.)	Report

9 September 2017 (2017-09-09)

15:00

Cape Coast Sports Stadium, Cape Coast

Referee: Boukari Ouedraogo (Burkina Faso)

---

Guinea	2–1	Guinea-Bissau
Keita 32' (pen.) Camara 40'	Report	Correia 15'

10 September 2017 (2017-09-10)

18:00

Cape Coast Sports Stadium, Cape Coast

Referee: Kouassi Fredéric Biro (Ivory Coast)

---

Mali	3–1	Mauritania
Konte 30' Kone 88', 91'	Report	Cheikh 36'

11 September 2017 (2017-09-11)

15:00

Cape Coast Sports Stadium, Cape Coast

Referee: Daouda Gueye (Senegal)

---

Nigeria	2–0	Sierra Leone
Okoro 85' Moses 87'	Report

11 September 2017 (2017-09-11)

18:00

Cape Coast Sports Stadium, Cape Coast

Referee: Yanissou Bebou (Togo)

Zone B

Senegal	0–0	Liberia
	Report
Penalties
	5–4

9 September 2017 (2017-09-09)

18:00

Cape Coast Sports Stadium, Cape Coast

Referee: Baba Léno (Guinea)

---

Burkina Faso	1–2	Niger
Dah 59'	Report	Soumana 34' Halidou 71'

10 September 2017 (2017-09-10)

15:00

Cape Coast Sports Stadium, Cape Coast

Referee: Daniel Laryea (Ghana)

---

Ivory Coast	0–0	Togo
	Report
Penalties
	4–3

12 September 2017 (2017-09-12)

15:00

Cape Coast Sports Stadium, Cape Coast

Referee: Baba Léno (Guinea)

---

Benin	2–0	Cape Verde
Ogoulola 63' Osseni 90'	Report

12 September 2017 (2017-09-12)

18:00

Cape Coast Sports Stadium, Cape Coast

Referee: Jerry Yekeh (Liberia)

Second round

Group 1

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Ghana (H)	3	2	0	1	3	2	+1	6	Advance to semi-finals
2	Nigeria	3	1	2	0	2	0	+2	5
3	Mali	3	0	2	1	1	2	−1	2
4	Guinea	3	0	2	1	1	3	−2	2

Source: WAFU
(H) Hosts

Mali	0–0	Nigeria
	Report

14 September 2017 (2017-09-14)

15:00

Cape Coast Sports Stadium, Cape Coast

Referee: Kouassi Fredéric Biro (Ivory Coast)

Ghana	2–0	Guinea
Sa. Sarfo 48' Kizito 77'	Report

14 September 2017 (2017-09-14)

18:00

Cape Coast Sports Stadium, Cape Coast

Referee: Yanissou Bebou (Togo)

---

Guinea	0–0	Nigeria
	Report

16 September 2017 (2017-09-16)

15:00

Cape Coast Sports Stadium, Cape Coast

Referee: Daouda Gueye (Senegal)

Ghana	1–0	Mali
Cobbinah 73'	Report

16 September 2017 (2017-09-16)

18:00

Cape Coast Sports Stadium, Cape Coast

Referee: Jerry Yekeh (Liberia)

---

Guinea	1–1	Mali
Camara 7'	Report	Camara 78' (o.g.)

18 September 2017 (2017-09-18)

18:00

Nduom Sports Stadium, Elmina

Referee: Boukari Ouedraogo (Burkina Faso)

Ghana	0–2	Nigeria
	Report	Okpotu 52' Eneji 55'

18 September 2017 (2017-09-18)

18:00

Cape Coast Sports Stadium, Cape Coast

Referee: Kouassi Fredéric Biro (Ivory Coast)

Group 2

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Benin	3	2	0	1	3	5	−2	6	Advance to semi-finals
2	Niger	3	1	1	1	3	3	0	4
3	Senegal	3	1	1	1	5	2	+3	4
4	Ivory Coast	3	0	2	1	0	1	−1	2

Source: WAFU

Senegal	1–2	Niger
Mbodj 61'	Report	Adebayor 29' Issoufou 88'

15 September 2017 (2017-09-15)

15:00 GMT

Cape Coast Sports Stadium, Cape Coast

Referee: Boukari Ouedraogo (Burkina Faso)

Ivory Coast	0–1	Benin
	Report	Gomez 40'

15 September 2017 (2017-09-15)

18:00 GMT

Cape Coast Sports Stadium, Cape Coast

Referee: Daniel Laryea (Ghana)

---

Niger	0–0	Ivory Coast
	Report

17 September 2017 (2017-09-17)

15:00

Cape Coast Sports Stadium, Cape Coast

Referee: Baba Léno (Guinea)

Senegal	4–0	Benin
Djitte 29' Kane 39' Diene 60' (pen.) Ndiaye 85'	Report

17 September 2017 (2017-09-17)

18:00

Cape Coast Sports Stadium, Cape Coast

Referee: Cecil Fleischer (Ghana)

---

Niger	1–2	Benin
Adebayor 4'	Report	Fassinou 37' Elegbede 87'

19 September 2017 (2017-09-19)

18:00

Nduom Sports Stadium, Elmina

Referee: Daniel Laryea (Ghana)

Senegal	0–0	Ivory Coast
	Report

19 September 2017 (2017-09-19)

18:00

Cape Coast Sports Stadium, Cape Coast

Referee: Cecil Fleischer (Ghana)

Knockout stage

Semi-finals

Benin	0–1	Nigeria
	Report	Ali 10'

21 September 2017 (2017-09-21)

15:00

Cape Coast Sports Stadium, Cape Coast

Referee: Baba Léno (Guinea)

---

Ghana	2–0	Niger
Kizito 31' St. Sarfo 79'	Report

21 September 2017 (2017-09-21)

18:00

Cape Coast Sports Stadium, Cape Coast

Referee: Yanissou Bebou (Togo)

Third-place playoff

Niger	2–1	Benin
Halidou 29' Adebayor 85'	Report	Yarou 90'

24 September 2017 (2017-09-24)

14:00

Cape Coast Sports Stadium, Cape Coast

Referee: Boukari Ouedraogo (Burkina Faso)

Final

Ghana	4–1	Nigeria
St. Sarfo 44', 78' (pen.) Antigah 60' (pen.) Cobbinah 90+3'	Report	Ali 90+5'

24 September 2017 (2017-09-24)

18:00

Cape Coast Sports Stadium, Cape Coast

Referee: Daouda Gueye (Senegal)^[6]

Goalscorers

3 goals

• Stephen Sarfo
• Victorien Adebayor

2 goals

• Vincent Antigah
• Winful Cobbinah
• Kwame Kizito
• Abdoulaye Camara
• Moussa Kone
• Idrissa Halidou
• Rabiu Ali
• Moses Peter

1 goal

• Jules Elegbede
• Rodrigue Fassinou
• Charbel Gomez
• Ibrahim Ogoulola
• Agnide Osseni
• Nabil Yarou
• Hassamy Sansan Dah
• Samuel Sarfo
• Sekou Keita
• Gilson Correia
• Mandala Konte
• Samba Cheikh
• Hinsa Issoufou
• Boubacar Hainikoye Soumana
• Anthony Okpotu
• Moses Okoro
• Ablaye Diene
• Moussa Djitte
• Mohammed Kane
• Assane Mbodj
• Amadu Dia Ndiaye

Awards

Player of the tournament

• Isaac Twum^[7]

Golden boot

• Stephen Sarfo^[7]

Golden Glove

• Ikechukwu Ezenwa^[7]

Best XI

The team of the tournament was announced on 27 September 2017.^[8]

Goalkeeper	Defenders	Midfielders	Forwards	Substitutions
Ikechukwu Ezenwa	Thomas Abbey Conde Aminata Ablaye Diene Osas Okoro	Adebayor Zakari Adje Afeez Aremu Charbel Gomez Isaac Twum	Winful Cobbinah Stephen Sarfo	Hortalien Ble Zadi (GK) Chima Akas Abdoulaye Camara Boubacar Haini Adeleye Olamikelan Souleymane Sakou Daouda Yussif

Prize money

The prize was awarded in form of US dollars:^[9]

Position	Prize money (US Dollars)
Winner	100,000
Runner-up	50,000
Third place	25,000
Fourth place	10,000
Four losing semi-finalists	10,000
Four second round finishers	5,000