Nigeria women's national football team

Nigeria women's national football team
The Nigeria women's national football team, nicknamed the Super Falcons, represents Nigeria in international women's football and is controlled by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF). The team is Africa's most successful international women's football team, having won a record eleven Women's Africa Cup of Nations titles; their most recent title in 2018, after defeating South Africa in the final. The team is also the only women's national team from the Confederation of African Football to have reached the quarterfinals in both the FIFA Women's World Cup and the Summer Olympics.
They are also one of the few teams in the world and only African team to have qualified for every edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, with their best performance at the 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup where they reached the quarterfinals.
History
They won the first seven African championships, and through their first 20 years lost only five games to African competition: 12 December 2002 to Ghana in Warri, 3 June 2007 at Algeria, 12 August 2007 to Ghana in an Olympic qualifier, 25 November 2008 at Equatorial Guinea in the semis of the 2008 Women's African Football Championship and May 2011 at Ghana in an All Africa Games qualification match.
The Super Falcons have been able to dominate beyond Africa in such arenas as the FIFA Women's World Cup or the Olympic Games however. The team has been to every World Cup since 1991, but managed just once to finish in the top two. In 2003, the Super Falcons turned out to be the biggest disappointment of the first round, failing to score a single goal and losing all three Group A matches. They did little better in 2007, drawing only one of their Group B matches. However, they faced the group of death in both 2003 and 2007, grouped both times with rising Asian power North Korea, traditional European power Sweden, and a historic women's superpower in the USA.
Nigeria hosted the African women's championship finals for the third time in 2001 which were then canceled due to a severe outbreak of gang induced violence within the Nigerian area, replacing Gabon, which was initially granted the right to host but later pulled out citing financial difficulties, and won it for the seventh time in a row. Nigeria's Super Falcons and Ghana's Black Queens represented Africa in China for the 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup.
The "Falconets" are the country's junior team (U-20), which performed creditably in the 2006 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup held in Russia when they beat Finland 8–0 before they were sent packing by Brazil in the Quarter-finals. They were the runner-up to Germany at the 2010 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup. Nigeria also played in the 2014 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup held in Canada and lost to Germany in the finals 0–1, Asisat Oshoala got both the golden ball and golden boot.
The "Flamingoes" are the country's cadet team (U-17), which qualified for the inaugural women's U-17 World Cup New Zealand 2008. Nigeria qualified for the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup where they were placed in Group A with South Korea, Norway and hosts France.
The 2023 World Cup is a success in accounting terms for Nigeria, which manages to pass the 1st round in a tough group B made up of Canada, the reigning Olympic champion, and Australia, one of the host countries of the competition, who were the 2 favorites of this hen completed by the Irish debutantes. The Super Falcons thwarted the odds against all odds by hooking the Canucks (0–0) from the start, thanks in particular to a crucial save by Nigerian goalkeeper and captain Chiamaka Nnadozie on a penalty from Canadian captain Christine Sinclair at the start of the 2nd half-time. Nigeria then continued their momentum against Australia, whom they surprised (3–2), showing themselves to be incisive on the counterattack while the Matildas had largely dominated the debates but showed clumsiness on the offensive level, so that they need just one point to secure their place in the knockout stage. Nigeria ensured the essentials by obtaining the point of a draw against Ireland (0–0) and finished 2nd in the group behind Australia who won the other 2 matches but ahead of Canada, precipitating the premature elimination of the North-Americans. In the round of 16, Nigeria have a hard time facing England, reigning European champions, who finished first in their pool D by winning all their matches. However, the Super Falcons largely mishandle Sarina Wiegman's players, thanks to their athletic response and quick projection on the counter-attack, a strategy which allows them to obtain many clear chances against an English team largely lacking in offensive inspiration and which is even reduced to 10 in the 87th minute, Lauren James being sent off following a gross foul on the Nigerian Michelle Alozie after intervention by the VAR. However, the score remained goalless at the end of regulation time and extra time (0–0) and it was England who qualified for the quarter-finals following the penalty shootout (2 to 4), ending Nigeria's dreams of doing as well as they did in 1999 when they reached the quarter-finals. Randy Waldrum's players nevertheless come out of the competition with their heads held high, without having lost a single match during this final phase, a first in its history.
Labour disputes
The Super Falcons have engaged in multiple disputes with the NFF over back pay, unpaid bonuses and bonus amounts, tournament preparation, and facilities, including sit-in protests, training boycotts, or threats to boycott matches in 2004, 2007, 2016, 2019, 2022, and 2023.
Team image
Nicknames
The Nigeria women's national football team has been known or nicknamed as the "Super Falcons".
FIFA world rankings
Worst Ranking Best Ranking Worst Mover Best Mover
Results and fixtures
The following is a list of match results in the last 12 months, as well as any future matches that have been scheduled.
Legend
2023
2024
Nigeria Results and Fixtures – Soccerway.com
global sport
Coaching staff
Current coaching staff
On 11 July 2023, the coaching squad for the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup was released by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF).
Manager history
Players
Current squad
The following 23 players were named to the squad for the 2024 CAF Women's Olympic qualifying tournament by coach Randy Waldrum on 10 October 2023.
Recent call-ups
Following players have been called up to a squad in the past 12 months.
This list may be incomplete.
Previous squads
Bold indicates winning squads
FIFA Women's World Cup
1991 FIFA Women's World Cup squad
1995 FIFA Women's World Cup squad
1999 FIFA Women's World Cup squad
2003 FIFA Women's World Cup squad
2007 FIFA Women's World Cup squad
2011 FIFA Women's World Cup squad
2015 FIFA Women's World Cup squad
2019 FIFA Women's World Cup squad
2023 FIFA Women's World Cup squads
Olympic Games
2000 Summer Olympics squad
2004 Summer Olympics squad
2008 Summer Olympics squad
Africa Women Cup of Nations
2000 African Women's Championship squad
2010 African Women's Championship squad
2012 African Women's Championship squad
2014 African Women's Championship squad
2016 Africa Women Cup of Nations squad
2018 Africa Women Cup of Nations squad
2022 Africa Women Cup of Nations squad
Captains
Desire Oparanozie (2019)
Asisat Oshoala (2019–2022)
Onome Ebi (2022–)
Records
*Active players in bold, statistics as of November 2020.
Most capped players
Top goalscorers
Honours
Intercontinental
FIFA Women's World Cup
Quarterfinals: 1999
Round of 16: 2019
Best Jersey: 2019
Olympic Games
Quarterfinals: 2004
Continental
Africa Women Cup of Nations
Champions: 1991, 1995, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2010, 2014, 2016, 2018
Third-place: 2008
African Games
Gold Medal: 2003, 2007
Fourth-place: 2015
Regional
WAFU Zone B Women's Cup
Bronze: 2018
Winners: 2019
Other tournaments
2019 Four Nations Tournament (women's football)
Third-place
2021 Turkish Women's Cup
Champions
2023 Women's Revelations Cup
Third-place
Awards
African Women's National Team of the Year
Winners: (2010, 2014, 2016, 2018)
Competitive record
FIFA Women's World Cup
Olympic Games
Africa Women Cup of Nations
African Games
2019 edition of the football tournament was played by the U-20 team.
WAFU Women's Cup record
Other tournaments
See also
Sport in Nigeria
Football in Nigeria
Women's football in Nigeria
Nigeria women's national under-20 football team
Nigeria women's national under-17 football team
NWFL Premiership
Nigeria men's national football team
References
Notes
External links
Official website
FIFA profile
African women's national association football teams
Women's national sports teams of Nigeria