Nigeria’s Super Falcons will miss the World Cup for the first time after losing 2-1 to Africa/">South Africa in an August playoff in Casablanca. The defeat followed their quarter-final exit from the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations, where only the four semi-finalists qualified directly for the tournament in Brazil next year. Nigeria reached the playoff after losing to Cameroon.
The result was a major setback for Africa’s most decorated national team, which has won at least 10 Wafcon titles. Journalist and lecturer Victor Ademola, who was in Morocco, described seeing players crying on the team bus, while others sat alone or looked at their phones. He said the players understood the significance of the loss for the team’s history.
The absence also means Nigeria will miss the funding and commercial opportunities associated with competing at a World Cup. African women’s football journalist Janine Anthony said the tournament is a crucial platform for the women’s game. Nigeria had appeared at every World Cup to date and was the only African team to have done so.
Anthony argued that, despite the Super Falcons’ record, the team is often treated as an “absolute afterthought” in domestic football, management and preparation. Nigeria played two friendlies against Senegal before the Wafcon. Anthony said the lack of preparation matches appeared to affect the team’s cohesion, while coach Justine Madugu changed the starting lineup frequently during the tournament.
The competition also reflected shifts in African women’s football. Morocco is the only African side from the 2023 World Cup already guaranteed a place at next year’s tournament. South Africa will compete in the intercontinental playoffs, while Nigeria and Zambia are out. Malawi, making its Wafcon debut, impressed with the attacking play of sisters Tabitha and Temwa Chawinga and will play at its first World Cup. Cameroon, the Wafcon winners, had qualified after the tournament expanded from 12 teams to 16.
Nigeria’s failure to qualify comes amid wider problems in the country’s football. The men’s national team has missed two successive World Cups, while the under-17 men have not reached a World Cup since 2019 or an Africa Cup of Nations since 2023. The under-20 women reached the quarter-finals of their World Cup in September after beating England 3-0, then lost 1-0 to Colombia.
Super Falcons players have also staged sit-ins and training boycotts over unpaid allowances and bonuses, including at Wafcon tournaments in 2004, 2016 and 2022, and at the 2019 World Cup. Local media reported that Nigeria’s Department of State Services is investigating the football federation over the alleged misuse of a 17 billion naira government fund issued in 2024 to settle outstanding payments to national-team players and staff. The federation did not comment to the Guardian on the allegations.
President Bola Tinubu called in August for far-reaching changes to football governance, administration, player development and accountability. That month, federation president Ibrahim Gusau and other board members resigned. Elections planned for September were suspended and are now expected to follow reforms agreed in consultation with Fifa and the Confederation of African Football.
Anthony said the Super Falcons need more investment and accountability, as well as stronger administrative links between former players and the current team. She also called for the team to receive the respect she believes it has long deserved.
Sources: The Guardian Sport.