2026 Women's Africa Cup of Nations: Algeria falls to Malawi and sees its dream of the final slip away.

The Algerian women's national team will not compete in the final of the 2026 AFCON. The Greens suffered a heavy defeat against Malawi (3-1) this Wednesday in the semi-finals, after a particularly complicated match marked notably by the early expulsion of Morgane Belkhiter.

Algeria quickly faced an unfavorable scenario. Reduced to ten players after the red card given to Belkhiter for a foul in a last defender position in the 22nd minute, Farid Benstiti's players had to play with a numerical disadvantage for a large part of the match.

Malawi immediately took advantage of this. In the 33rd minute, Tabitha Chawinga opened the scoring after a corner situation, putting the Malawians in an ideal position. The Greens then conceded a second goal before halftime, scored by Temwa Chawinga, who took advantage of another dangerous situation to double the lead.

Trailing 2-0 at halftime, Algeria needed to mount another spectacular comeback after the one achieved against Ivory Coast in the quarter-finals. However, the task became even more complicated, despite the expulsion of a Malawian player before the break, which brought both teams to ten against ten.

The Greens nevertheless tried to respond after the break. Adjabi finally reduced the deficit in the 60th minute and gave hope to the Algerians. But as they pushed to equalize, Malawi delivered the final blow in the 76th minute thanks to Temwa Chawinga, who scored a brace.

Beaten 3-1, Algeria thus sees its dream of a first women's AFCON final vanish. Despite this elimination, the Greens will have made a historic run in this 2026 edition and will now need to regroup to finish the competition on a positive note.