WAFCON 2026 Fallout: Why Super Falcons Deserve Trophy-Winning Coach Now

By Harry Awurumibe, Editor-in-Chief                                                                                                                                                                        With the disastrous outing of Nigeria’s Super Falcons at the just concluded Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) in Morocco still fresh in the memories of Nigerians, it is now time for the National Sports Commission (NSC) and Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to spare the citizens at home and in diaspora another heartache if Super Falcons miss the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games by immediately appointing a tested and successful new head coach to turn the fortunes of the senior women’s team around.

This is even as the 10-time African champions have a crucial two-legged tie in the second round of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) qualifiers for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games scheduled for October 5–13, 2026.

Comoros advanced to face the Nigeria after a 30–0 aggregate win against Sudan in the first round of the African qualifiers played in June 2026 with four more round of eight matches to be played by Nigeria till late of 2027.

Recall that Nigeria’s football image received a heavy battering in the just concluded WAFCON in Morocco following Super Falcons’ three defeats in the hands of debutants Malawi in the group stage; arch-rivals Cameroon in the quarter-finals and South Africa in the FIFA Women’s World Cup African Play-off matches.

The above poor results recorded by the Super Falcons in the 14th edition of the biggest women’s football tournament in Africa ensured that Nigeria failed to qualify for the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Brazil.

The failures of the Super Falcons in Morocco also marked the first time-ever Nigeria will be missing from the global women’s football showpiece which the West African nation has never failed to qualify since the first-ever FIFA Women’s World Cup finals in China in 1991.

To ensure that the dethroned African champions bounced back to reckoning by qualifying for the Los Angeles Olympic Games, the NFF and its superving NSC should not waste precious time in appointing the next head coach of Super Falcons to start the rebuilding of the fractured team.

With morale of the players at its lowest ebb and head coach Justine Madugu and his assistants Ann Chiejine and Auwal Makwalla as well as Video Analyst Igor Krulj and Fitness/ Conditioning coach Par Karlsson sacked by the federation, it is only right that the NFF and NSC bigwigs should not make another mistake made in the appointment of coaches who could not qualify the Super Eagles for the recent past FIFA World Cup finals in USA, Mexico and Canada.

This time around, the Commission and federation should head-hunt a technically and tactically-sound head coach with verifiable records of winning a trophy or medal with at least one national team in the past in Africa, Europe or other countries in the world.

It would be a gross disservice to the Super Falcons with 100 per cent (💯) overseas-based professional players, if the federation and Commission decide for whatever reason to appoint yet another none unqualified head coach.

A closer look at the scorecards of last four Super Falcons head coaches based on matches played, won, drew and lost from 2016 to 2026 showed that two indigenous past coaches did well while one of the two expatriate managers did excellently well just as the other performed poorly.

Super Falcons Last Four Head Coaches Scorecard Per Matches Played, Won, Drew and Lost (2016 to 2026)

(1) Justine Madugu                                                                                                                                                                                       (Period 1 Yr)
Matches= 24
Won=16
Drew=3
Lost=5

(2) Randy Waldrum-USA
(Period 4 Yrs)
*Matches= 40*
*Won=17*
Drew=5
*Lost=18*

(3) Thomas Dennerby- Sweden
(Period 1Yr +):
Matches= 24
Won=18
Drew=0
Lost=6

Florence Omagbemi-Nigeria (Period 1Yr)
Matches= 7
Won=6
Drew=1
Lost=0

In summary, the above scorecard has shown how well or poor each past head coach performed on the job in the period under review and without fear or favour, Sweden-born football tactician Thomas Lennart Dennerby distinguished himself by winning two trophies (WAFCON trophy 2018 and WAFU-B Cup 2019) within one year of his employment.

He was also the only foreign coach who travelled around Nigeria to watch the local women’s football league and Federation Cup matches and he capped it by taking no fewer than eight home-based players in his final 21-player squad for the 2018 WAFCON finals in Ghana.

The domestic league players who made the final trip included:
1.Chiamaka Nnadozie (Goalkeeper, Rivers Angels)
2.Chidinma Okeke (Defender, FC Robo Queens)
3.Sarah Nnodim (Defender, Nasarawa Amazons)
4.Glory Ogbonna (Midfielder, Ibom Angels)
5.Amarachi Okoronkwo (Midfielder, Nasarawa Amazons)
6.Rasheedat Ajibade (Forward, FC Robo Queens)
7.Anam Imo (Forward, Nasarawa Amazons)
8.Chioma Wogu (Forward, Rivers Angels).

Determined to develop the Nigerian local league players, Dennerby also included seven home-based players in the final 23-women list for the FIFA World Cup in France in 2019.

They are Chidinma Okeke (FC Robo); Evelyn Nwabuoku (Rivers Angels); Amarachi Okoronkwo (Nasarawa Amazons); Alice Ogebe (Rivers Angels) and all three goalkeepers-Tochukwu Oluehi (Rivers Angels); Alaba Jonathan (Bayelsa Queens) and Chiamaka Nnadozie (Rivers Angels).

There is no iota of doubt that Dennerby who also won many domestic trophies and FIFA Women’s World Cup Bronze Medal with Sweden’s senior women’s football team deserves to be rehired to contiue with the good work he did within the short period he led the Super Falcons to win titles because there is no local coach at the moment capable
to bring out the best in the badly damaged Super Falcons to fight for the Los Angeles Olympics Women’s Football Tournament African ticket.

This is the naked truth if the NFF and NSC would be sincere to the nation.