The Tanzania Women's National Team, Twiga Stars, has officially begun its training camp in Karatu as part of preparations for the 2026 Women's Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) finals, which will be held in Morocco in July.
The camp has brought together both locally based players and those playing professional football abroad, as the coaching staff begins the final phase of preparations for one of Africa's biggest women's football tournaments.
Twiga Stars secured qualification for WAFCON 2026 after eliminating Ethiopia with a 3-0 aggregate victory in the final qualifying round. Tanzania won the first leg 2-0 in Dar es Salaam before earning another victory away from home through a goal by Diana Lucas in Addis Ababa.
This qualification marks Tanzania's second consecutive appearance at WAFCON and the third in the team's history, having first qualified in 2010 and returned again for the 2024 finals.
In the tournament draw, Twiga Stars were placed in Group B alongside defending champions South Africa, Côte d'Ivoire, and Burkina Faso. The group is regarded as one of the most competitive due to the quality of the teams involved.
Head Coach Bakari Shime has named a squad that includes both domestic and overseas-based stars, including Aisha Masaka, Opah Clement, Clara Luvanga, and Diana Lucas, all of whom are expected to play key roles for the team in Morocco.
Beyond competing for the African title, WAFCON 2026 also serves as an important pathway toward qualification for the 2027 FIFA Women's World Cup in Brazil. The best-performing teams in the tournament will have opportunities to compete for places at the global competition.
Twiga Stars enter camp with strong momentum following recent successes and significant progress in women's football across East Africa and the continent as a whole. Qualifying for WAFCON in back-to-back editions highlights the team's growth and raises hopes of achieving even greater success in the upcoming tournament.
The Karatu training camp is expected to continue for several weeks before the squad travels to Morocco, with Tanzanians eagerly waiting to see whether Twiga Stars can make new history in women's football by reaching the latter stages of the competition.
