Nigeria’s Super Falcons have been eliminated from the race for the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup after a 2-1 defeat to South Africa in the Confederation of African Football play-off at the 2026 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco on Thursday.
The defeat means Nigeria will miss the Women’s World Cup for the first time since the tournament began in 1991, ending the country’s record of appearing at every edition.
The Falcons had been given another opportunity to keep that record alive after failing to secure an automatic World Cup qualification spot through the WAFCON quarter-finals.
Nigeria lost 1-0 to Cameroon on Sunday, a result that ended their run of reaching at least the semi-finals at every previous edition of the continental tournament and confirmed their worst-ever WAFCON finish.
Against South Africa, the Falcons were unable to find a breakthrough in a goalless first half.
Thembi Kgatlana opened the scoring for Banyana Banyana in the 56th minute before Refiloe Jane doubled their advantage 21 minutes later.
Nigeria were handed a late lifeline after a VAR review resulted in a penalty for the Falcons and a red card for Jane.
Christy Ucheibe converted the spot-kick in added time to reduce the deficit, but Nigeria could not find an equaliser as South Africa held on to secure victory.
South Africa will now advance to the intercontinental play-off tournament scheduled for November and December, where three teams will secure the remaining African places at the 2027 Women’s World Cup in Brazil.
The result compounds a disappointing WAFCON campaign for Nigeria, who entered the tournament as defending champions after securing a record-extending 10th continental title last year.
Justine Madugu’s side made a difficult start in Morocco, losing 3-2 to WAFCON debutants Malawi on July 28.
The Falcons responded with a 1-0 victory over Zambia and a 3-0 win against Egypt to reach the quarter-finals through a dramatic permutation.
Their title defence ended with the 1-0 defeat to Cameroon, before South Africa delivered the final blow to Nigeria’s World Cup hopes.
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