The 2024 WAFF Women's Championship was the 8th edition of the WAFF Women's Championship, the biennial international women's football tournament in West Asia competed by the national teams in the West Asian Football Federation (WAFF).[1] The tournament was hosted by the kingdom of Saudi Arabia, it was the first major women's football tournament to be hosted in the kingdom.[2][3]
Jordan were three-time defending champions having won the last three editions (Jordan 2014, Bahrain 2019 and Jordan 2022).[4] and they successfully retained the title for the sixth time, after beating Nepal on penalties in the final.[5][6] In the other hand tournament's host Saudi Arabia were unable to secure victory in any of their matches.[7] Nepalese striker Sabitra Bhandari won the top scorer award scoring nine goals throughout the tournament. Jordanian player Maysa Jbarah was voted the tournament's best player, whilst Jbarah teammate Sherin Al-Shalabe was awarded the best goalkeeper award.
Teams
Participating teams
On 4 February 2024, the WAFF announced that 8 countries would participate in the 2024 edition – the highest number of participating countries in a single edition since United Arab Emirates 2011 – with Saudi Arabia participating for the first time in a major football tournament.[8][9] This was also the first edition where non-West Asian Football Federation members were also invited, namely Guam, an EAFF member and Nepal, a SAFF member.[10]
Although numerous Egyptian media outlets indicated that an invitation had been sent to the Egypt women's national football team for the 2024 edition, the team was not included in the list of participants published on 4 February 2024[11][12]
For the draw, The eight participating teams were drawn into a singular pot. Saudi Arabia, the host nation was identified by a different color and was automatically allocated to Group A, Position A1. A second pot with 8 balls representing positions A1, A2, A3, A4, B1, B2, B3, and B4 was used for the draw. The A1 position was marked with a different color. each time a team was drawn from the first pot was simultaneously assigned its specific position from the second pot.[15]
Teams were ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss), and if tied on points, the following tiebreaking criteria were applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings:
Goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
If more than two teams are tied, and after applying all head-to-head criteria above, a subset of teams are still tied, all head-to-head criteria above are reapplied exclusively to this subset of teams;
Goal difference in all group matches;
Goals scored in all group matches;
Disciplinary points (yellow card = 1 point, red card as a result of two yellow cards = 3 points, direct red card = 3 points, yellow card followed by direct red card = 4 points);
^"منتخب السيدات يؤكد مشاركته بـ"غرب آسيا" بنسختها الثامنة" [The women's national team confirms its participation in the eighth edition of the West Asian Championship.]. alghad.com (in Arabic). 15 October 2023. Retrieved 1 January 2024.
^"الأردن يحصد الفوز الثالث في بطولة غرب آسيا للسيدات" [Jordan secures the third victory in the West Asian Women's Championship.]. the-afc.com (in Arabic). Asian Football Confederation. 5 September 2023. Retrieved 1 January 2023.
^"الأردن تتوج بلقب بطولة غرب آسيا للسيدات على حساب نيبال" [The Jordanian women's team clinches the title of the West Asian Women's Championship at the expense of Nepal.]. dmcfoot.com (in Arabic). 29 February 2024. Retrieved 1 March 2024.
^"المنتخب النسوي يشارك في غرب آسيا" [The Iraq women's national team participates in West Asia.]. alsabaah.iq (in Arabic). 23 July 2023. Retrieved 1 January 2024.
^"قرعة بطولة غرب آسيا للسيدات بكرة القدم اليوم" [The draw for the West Asian Women's Football Championship is today.]. addustour.com (in Arabic). 5 February 2024. Retrieved 5 February 2024.
^"قرعة بطولة السيدات الثامنة تكشف عن منافسة منتظرة" [The draw for the eighth women's championship reveals an anticipated competition]. the-waff.com (in Arabic). West Asian Football Federation. 5 February 2024. Retrieved 6 February 2024.
