Cameroon: FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup - Cameroon Profile

While Ghana and Nigeria are FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup ever-presents, Cameroon are making their debut at the tournament, having previously failed to qualify on two occasions. Their bid for a place at New Zealand 2008 was ended in the final group match by the Ghanaians, who accounted for the Cameroonians once more in the first round of the preliminaries for Azerbaijan 2012.

The present

Cameroon very nearly suffered another qualification failure on the road to Jordan 2016. Drawn against Ethiopia in the first round of the African qualifiers, Les Bébés Lionnes (Baby Lions) recorded a 2-1 win in Douala in the first leg, but found themselves trailing 2-0 in the return in Addis Ababa with just three minutes remaining, at which point Alexandra Takounda Engolo popped up to level the tie on aggregate. In the penalty shootout that followed, the Cameroonians edged out their hosts 5-4 to tee up a second-round meeting with Egypt. Victorious again by a 2-1 scoreline at home, Cameroon cruised to a 4-0 win in the away leg to advance to Jordan in style.

The future

Warmly congratulated by their "big sisters" in the senior national team the day after their qualification, Les Bébés Lionnes are hoping to make just as impressive a world-finals debut as their elders did at the FIFA Women's World Cup Canada 2015™, where they reached the last 16. Though hampered by the lack of a national women's youth league from which to select players, coach Minkreo Birwe's tireless scouting has allowed him to fashion a team that is both determined and unpredictable.

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