Ethiopia Women

Semi-final, 2004: Ethiopia against Nigeria, a place in the final of the Africa Women Cup of Nations within reach. Ethiopia lost that game, then lost the third-place playoff to Ghana on penalties, 5–6 after a goalless draw.

The side did not exist on the pitch for most of the twentieth century in any competitive sense — its debut on the international stage came only in September 2002, in qualifiers for that year's African Championship.

Supporters and the press call the team Lucy, after the Australopithecus skeleton unearthed in Ethiopia in 1974, and the players wear green, yellow and red, the colours of the national flag. Home games are played in front of up to 30,000 at Abebe Bikila Stadium in Addis Ababa; a new national stadium in the city, planned for 62,000 seats, is due to open in 2027.

Since that 2004 semi-final, the closest Ethiopia has come to a trophy has been third place in the CECAFA Women's Championship, a regional title reached in 2016, 2018 and 2022. A place at the 2016 Olympics slipped away not on the pitch but through an administrative error by the Ethiopian Football Federation. The team's highest position in the FIFA world rankings, 77th, dates back to July 2003 — a mark set in the same early years that produced the run to that semi-final.