“Every match was a final for us,” Valentine Nguele gives a behind-the-scenes account of Cameroon’s triumph at WAFCON 2026

The Cameroonian head coach highlighted the work carried out in the run-up to the tournament, with a project focused on young players.

According to Valentine Nguele, player recruitment and the players’ willingness to commit to the project played a decisive role in Cameroon’s success at the 2026 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations.

“We set up a youth programme. We identified the right players and the girls were willing to work hard. We came here to this tournament to show what we could do.”

The coach of the Indomitable Lionesses also emphasised the importance of approaching the competition step by step, without getting carried away by the results.

“We had to take the matches one at a time and see how we would progress in this tournament, and above all remain humble, bearing in mind where we’d come from.”

For Valentine Nguele, Cameroon’s strength lay above all in the team’s cohesion and the players’ willingness to make the necessary sacrifices.

“I believe it was all of this combined that created a close-knit group, right from the grassroots level. And the girls were also willing to endure the hardships over those two months, without giving up. Every match was a final for us. They proved they could go the distance over six matches, six finals.”