The team qualified after knocking out Kenya in the third and final qualifying round.
Cameroon has bagged a qualification ticket to make its third ever appearance in the final phase of the Under-17 FIFA Women’s World Cup competition by securing a ticket for the 2025 edition. The Baby Lionesses earned the spot in the final phase of the global women’s age-group competition after seeing through the Junior Starlets of Kenya in the third and final round of the qualifying series in Africa. The team defeated the East African outfit 3-1 at the Olembe Stadium in Yaounde last Friday to complete a 4-1 aggregate victory of the Kenyans following a slim 1-0 first leg win secured five days earlier.
Cameroon’s three goals in the second leg were scored by Beatrice Avana, Ange Tazanou and Tiwa Lys Fraiche. Avana opened the scoring at the seventh minute after beating the Kenyan shot stopper from over 20 meters away. Goal-scoring sensation, Tazanou doubled the lead at the 53th minute after brilliantly tapping in to complete a well-worked goal-chasing action for the Baby Lionesses.
Tiwa Lys who has equally been in top form since the qualification campaign began earlier this year, fired in the third and final goal for Cameroon from the penalty spot at the 88th minute. The goal rounded up a third and final qualifying series during which the Lekie Filles forward scored the lone goal to hand Cameroon a 1-0 victory over the Kenyans in Nairobi in the first leg on Sunday April 19.
Historic qualification
The 2025 U17 FIFA Women’s World Cup tournament will take place in Morocco from October 17 to November 8 this year. The tournament will bring together 24 nations from across the globe. Five of the participating nations will come from the African continent. Cameroon is joined in the competition by host Morocco, Cote d’Ivoire, Nigeria and Zambia. Qualifying for the 2025 tournament marks the third time Cameroon is featuring in the finals of the competition.
The Bably Lionesses first competed in the event in 2016 and also featured in the 2018 series. The team however failed to reach the 2022 and 2024 editions after getting knocked in the qualification campaigns to the two tournaments by Tanzania and Uganda respectively.
Easy qualification race for Cameroon
Cameroon had a dominantly easy ride during the qualifiers to the 2025 tournament. The team won all its six matches in the competition, securing double wins over Egypt, Ethiopia and Kenya in the first, second and third rounds respectively. The team managed by head coach Joseph Brian Ndoko, had a smooth 6-0 aggregate win over Egypt in the first round of the campaign. This was after the outfit outsmarted the North Africans 5nil in the away leg and completed the phase with a 1-0 victory at the Kouekong Omnisport Stadium.
The Baby Lionesses had a similar ride in the second round. The team demolished Ethiopia 5-2 in the first leg at the Olembe Stadium in Yaounde before rounding up the business with a comfortable 1-0 victory in Addis Ababa last month. Ange Tazanou was Cameroon’s overall top-scorer in the campaign. The attacker powered in five goals. Tiwa Lys scored four goals.
