It’s Battle of Wounded Enemies: As Nigeria, S/Africa clash for World Cup Play-off ticket 

By Harry Awurumibe, Editor-in-Chief

For Nigeria’s senior women’s football team, this is definitely not the best of times as Super Falcons face yet another difficult opponents in Banyana Banyana of South Africa in a 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup Play-off tie at Moulay Rachid Stadium in Casablanca, Morocco on Thursday night.

It has become a case of doing it the easy way or the hard way for Nigeria after the 10-time African champion was eliminated from further contestation for the ongoing Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) title following a 1-0 defeat by the Indomitable Lionesses of Cameroon in the quarter-finals clash on Sunday at Larbi Zaouli Stadium in Casablanca.

Also, Nigeria’s opponents South Africa was also sent packing from the ongoing WAFCON by host country Morocco after the Banyana Banyana fell 1-2 to the Atlas Lionesses at Moulay El Hassan Stadium, Rabat on Saturday.

The elimination of Nigeria and South Africa meant they did not qualify automatically for the FIFA Women’s World Cup in Brazil and also failed to reach the semi-finals of WAFCON.

However, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) still has a window to present two more teams to represent Africa alongside Algeria, Cameroon, Malawi and Morocco who qualified automatically after reaching the semi-final of WAFCON while the four defeated countries in the quarter-finals are competing in the Play-off fixtures.

In the second match, two West African neighbours Ivory Coast and Ghana will play in the World Cup Play-off 1 at Larbi Zaouli Stadium, Casablanca.

Ivory Coast was also defeated 2-1 by Algeria on Saturday at Moulay Rachid Stadium, Casablanca while Ghana was beaten 1-0  in the quarter-finals by debutants Malawi on Sunday at Moulay Rachid Stadium, Casablanca.

According to CAF, the two winners of the two Play-off matches tomorrow will  qualify for the Inter-confederation Play-offs.

Meanwhile, 10 teams with two each from Africa, Asia, CONCACAF, CONMEBOL plus one from Oceania one from Europe will take part in the Intercontinental Play-Off Tournament which has been divided into two phases thus:

– *Phase 1*: November to December 2026. The 2 African teams play here

– *Phase 2*: February 2027. Winners from Phase 1 join higher-ranked teams to compete for the top prize which is three final FIFA Women’s World Cup spots up for grabs.