Equatorial Guinea women's national football team

History

Equatorial Guinea defeated South Africa 2–1 in an Olympic Games Qualifier on 18 February 2007, but lost the return leg 4–2. In the 2008 Women's African Football Championship (which they hosted), they went undefeated in Group A which featured Cameroon, Congo, and Mali. They defeated Nigeria 1–0 in the semifinal and went on to win the championship beating South Africa 2–1. They became the first (and, so far, only) nation other than Nigeria to win the Women's African Football Championship. They made their debut in an international tournament at the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup, losing all three of their group stage matches against Norway, Australia and Brazil.

In 2012, Equatorial Guinea hosted and won the 2012 African Women's Championship. They won the semi-final 2–0 versus Cameroon, and the final 4–0 against South Africa, with two goals by Gloria Chinasa and one each by Tiga (Adriana Aparecida Costa) and the captain Genoveva Añonman.

Between 2006 and 2010, Bilguissa and Salimata Simporé, a sibling duo from Burkina Faso, used to play for Equatorial Guinea – the first as a central defender and the latter as a centre forward. Beyond the mechanism by which they were naturalized (similar to the Brazilians), the main controversy about the Simporés arose regarding whether they were actually two men. Around April 2011, they were removed from national team by the Italian-born Brazilian coach Marcelo Frigerio, who had recently assumed, just a few months before participating in the World Cup. Since then, the Simporé siblings never were called-up. In 2015, Frigerio, now a former national team coach, told the Brazilian press they are men.

Eligibility of players controversy

In recent years, Equatorial Guinea has courted controversy by recruiting foreign players and giving them citizenship despite having little or no ties to the country. In 2009, South African journalist and FIFA archivist Mark Gleeson wrote that it was undermining the integrity of African football.

In late 2005, and at the request of Ruslán Obiang Nsue, a son of President Teodoro Obiang, Brazilian coach Antônio Dumas recruited several Brazilian players to represent the Equatorial Guinea but the CAF and FIFA turned a blind eye, despite complaints from other nations.

In 2012, having lost the first leg of a 2013 Africa Cup of Nations qualification round 4–0 to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea recruited nine Brazilian players to help overturn the deficit for the second leg. The team did manage to win the match 2–1, but it was not enough to overturn the aggregate and Equatorial Guinea were eliminated. DR Congo head coach Claude Le Roy complained that the Equatorial Guinea were acting like the "United Nations of football".

Before the arrival of new coach Andoni Goikoetxea to Malabo, in March 2013, the Equatoguinean board made the squad for the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifying match against Cape Verde and again called-up nine Brazilian players. In May 2013, they joined Colombian-born, Equatorian-based Jimmy Bermúdez, who was going to be paid €3,000 for each match he played.

During the 2015 qualifiers, in the games played against Mauritania, the Nzalang Nacional lost 1–0 away and won 3–0 in Malabo, qualifying to the next round to face Uganda. However, the Mauritanian Football Federation submitted a complaint to CAF about the inclusion of ineligible players by Equatorial Guinea (some with fake passports and false names), resulting in the expulsion of the Equatorial Guinean team, based on the particular situation of Thierry Fidjeu, while the cases of the other players remained under investigation. However, they were reinstated after Morocco withdrew from hosting due to Ebola outbreak.

Emilio Nsue, who played for Spanish youth national teams from 2005 to 2011, played two matches of Equatorial Guinea in 2013. A few months later, FIFA declared him ineligible for that match and for the return fixture, awarding both games to Cape Verde by a 3–0 scoreline. Nsue did not gain Equatoguinean nationality until after playing official matches for Spain and the Equatoguinean Football Federation did not ask FIFA for permission to switch allegiances. Nsue continued to play for Equatorial Guinea despite FIFA declaring his ineligibility, including the 2015, 2021, and 2023 editions of the African Cup of Nations. In June 2024, FIFA judges ruled that Nsue was never eligible to play for Equatorial Guinea throughout his entire career.

The women's national football team was also implicated directly in the naturalized players' controversy. For example, both FIFA and CAF found the federation liable for providing fake passports of players who were actually born in Brazil. Their issues go way back to 2011, when Equatorial Guinea fielded an ineligible player, Jade Boho without completing her one-time switch (from Spain), Equatorial Guinea was disqualified from the Women's Football tournament at the 2012 Olympic Games.

Since then, they fielded Camila Maria do Carmo Nobre de Oliveira, who was ruled ineligible to play for Equatorial Guinea because she was using two passports with unreliably different information during the qualifying competition for the 2016 Olympics. Specifically, she also has two birth certificates that show different information about her parents' nationality. A further investigation found that they have fielded 12 ineligible players, two of them with forged passports, and consequently, they were banned from the next three women's AFCONs, the 2020 Olympics, and the 2019 Women's World Cup. Subsequently, the federation appealed to CAS, and both CAS and CAF overturned the ban during their emergency meeting for the 2018 Women's AFCON tournament. Initially, Kenya replaced Equatorial Guinea after they were disqualified by the CAF for fielding an ineligible player, but the decision was overturned on appeal, and Equatorial Guinea were reintegrated into the competition. Kenya appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, but failed to overturn the decision.

Team image

Nicknames

The Equatorial Guinea women's national football team has been known or nicknamed as the "Nzalang Femenino".

Results and fixtures

The following is a list of match results in the last 12 months, as well as any future matches that have been scheduled.

;Legend

2025

• Athumani
• Kasonga
• Msewa

Coaching staff

Current coaching staff

Manager history

Current squad

The following players were called up for the 2026 Women's Africa Cup of Nations qualification matches against Tanzania on 20 and 26 February 2025.

Caps and goals as of 26 February 2025, after the match against the Tanzania.

Recent call-ups

The following players have been called up to an Equatorial Guinea squad in the past 12 months.

INJ Player withdrew from the squad due to an injury

PRE Preliminary squad / standby

WD Player withdrew from the squad due to non-injury issue

RET Player retired from the national team

SUS Player is serving suspension

Records

:Players in bold are still active, at least at club level.

:

Most capped players

Top goalscorers

Competitive record

Worldwide

FIFA Women's World Cup

:*Draws include knockout matches decided on penalty kicks.

Olympic Games

Africa Women Cup of Nations

African Games

Regional

UNIFFAC Women's Cup

Turkish Women's Cup

Honours

Major competitions

;Africa Women Cup of Nations

• Champions (2): 2008, 2012
• Runners-up (1): 2010

Regional

;UNIFFAC Women's Cup

• Champions (1): 2020

All−time record against FIFA recognized nations

The list shown below shows the Equatorial Guinea women's national football team all−time international record against opposing nations.

*As of xxxxxx after match against xxxx. ;Key

Record per opponent

*As ofxxxxx after match against xxxxx. ;Key

The following table shows Equatorial Guinea's all-time official international record per opponent:

Notes

References

References

1. "Selección femenina absoluta (Nzalang Femenino)".
2. (2008-11-30). "BBC SPORT | Football | African | Equatorial Guinea lift AWC trophy". BBC News.
3. Smith, David. (2010-11-26). "Equatorial Guinea's footballers caught up in gender row". The Guardian.
4. Hassett, Soccer Sebastian. (2011-06-23). "Matildas' rivals drop duo over gender row".
5. (11 September 2015). "Técnico do São Paulo conta como barrou dois homens em seleção feminina às vésperas de Copa". ESPN.
6. Soccer, World. (2009-03-09). "African football's integrity is undermined, by Mark Gleeson".
7. Basic, Dusko. (2015). "The United Nations of Football South-South Migration, Transnational Ties and Denationalization in the National Football Teams of Equatorial Guinea and Togo".
8. (10 March 2013). "Volante Neto é convocado pela Seleção de Guiné Equatorial". Barretos Esporte Clube.
9. "Bermúdez es convocado a la Selección de Guinea Ecuatorial : Diario Centinela".
10. (2014-07-04). "Equatorial Guinea Disqualified From African Cup". The New York Times.
11. (2014-07-04). "Afcon 2015: Equatorial Guinea disqualified from play-offs". BBC Sport.
12. "CAF acknowledges Morocco's refusal to host ORANGE AFCON 2015 from January 17 to February 8".
13. "EQUATORIAL GUINEA DESIGNATED HOST COUNTRY OF ORANGE AFCON 2015".
14. (2014-11-14). "Why Equatorial Guinea was chosen as Nations Cup hosts". BBC News.
15. (2014-11-14). "Africa Cup of Nations: Equatorial Guinea to host tournament".
16. (19 July 2013). "Equatorial Guinea sanctioned for fielding ineligible player". FIFA.
17. Dunbar, Graham. (3 June 2024). "FIFA ruling shows AFCON star Emilio Nsue was ineligible for entire career with Equatorial Guinea". [[Associated Press]].
18. Akingbade, Deolu. (2024-06-04). "Nsue was never eligible for Equatorial Guinea, FIFA says".
19. (July 1, 2011). "E. Guinea women's team disqualified from Olympics".
20. (2016-08-04). "Equatorial Guinea banned from next three Africa Women Cup of Nations". BBC Sport.
21. sport, Guardian. (2017-10-05). "Fifa cries foul over Equatorial Guinea's 10 ineligible Brazilians". The Guardian.
22. (5 October 2017). "Equatorial Guinea expelled from FIFA Women's World Cup France 2019". FIFA.com.
23. "Equatorial Guinea expelled from FIFA Women's World Cup France 2019".
24. (2017-10-05). "FIFA bans Equatorial Guinea from 2019 Women's World Cup".
25. (2017-10-05). "Equatorial Guinea banned from 2019 Women's World Cup". BBC Sport.
26. (17 October 2018). "Harambee Starlets appeal against Equatorial Guinea upheld, Kenya set to grace AWCON". Football Kenya Federation.
27. (October 16, 2018). "CAF disqualifies Equatorial Guinea from 2018 Women's AFCON".
28. (2018-10-18). "Kenya replace Equatorial Guinea at Women's Africa Cup of Nations". BBC Sport.
29. "CAF Appeal Board reinstates Equatorial Guinea Women's National Team - Football Legal".
30. (2018-11-08). "CAF reviews ban and lets Equatorial Guinea back in to Women's Africa Cup of Nations".
31. (8 November 2018). "Kenya to appeal to Cas over Equatorial Guinea reinstatement". BBC Sport.
32. (2018-11-14). "Kenya file late appeal over Women's Nations Cup exclusion". BBC Sport.
33. (16 November 2018). "Kenya loses CAS appeal over Women's Nations Cup exclusion". BBC Sport.
34. [https://www.instagram.com/p/DF0xkbcsQ8F/ Squad for First round]
35. (5 October 2017). "Equatorial Guinea expelled from FIFA Women's World Cup France 2019". FIFA.com.
36. (11 April 2016). "Equatorial Guinea expelled from Women's Olympic Football Tournament 2020". FIFA.com.
37. (4 August 2016). "Equatorial Guinea disqualified, Mali in". CAF.
38. Anatolio. (6 December 2023). "El Nzalang Femenino podría jugar la CAN por alineación indebida de RDC".