The African Women’s Soccer Championship begins Oct. 17, as eight teams will compete for two berths at the 1999 Women’s World Cup. The competition will be held in Kaduna and Lagos, Nigeria, with the hosts, winners of the past two qualifying tournaments and competitiors in the 1991 and 1995 Women’s World Cups, strong favorites to win the tournament. South Africa and Ghana are also among the top contenders. The teams have been divided into two four-team groups for round-robin play, with the top two teams in each group advancing to the semifinals. The two semifinal winners will qualify for USA ’99 and play for the African championship on Oct. 31. The qualifying process began with 12 teams, up from eight that entered qualifying for the 1995 Women’s World Cup in Sweden, signaling a slow but significant growth in a region where women historically have not had much opportunity to play the world’s game. Eight of the 12 nations that entered qualifying for 1999 played first-round home-and-away matches, with Mozambique, South Africa, Egypt and Ghana winning their two-game playoffs. Cameroon and DR Congo (formerly Zaire) advanced when their first-round opponents withdrew. Nigeria, as defending champion received a bye, and Morocco was added to the final field as a late addition. Here is the schedule for the 1998 African qualifying tournament: