File: Super Falcons head coach Justin Madugu
Super Falcons head coach, Justine Madugu, has apologised to Nigerians and accepted full responsibility for the team’s failure to qualify for the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup, as the Nigeria Football Federation set up a fact-finding committee to investigate the campaign, while the players remain heartbroken, Saturday PUNCH reports.
Nigeria’s World Cup hopes were ended on Thursday following a 2-1 defeat to South Africa in the Confederation of African Football play-off in Casablanca, at the 2026 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco.
The Falcons had already missed an automatic World Cup ticket after a 1-0 quarter-final defeat to Cameroon, a result that also ended their record of reaching at least the semi-finals at every previous WAFCON and handed the ten-time African champions their worst-ever finish in the competition.
Against South Africa, Thembi Kgatlana broke the deadlock in the fifty-sixth minute before Refiloe Jane doubled the advantage in the seventy-seventh minute. Nigeria were handed a lifeline in stoppage time after a VAR review awarded them a penalty and saw Jane sent off, and Christy Ucheibe converted from the spot, but the Falcons could not find an equaliser as Banyana Banyana held on for victory.
