WAFCON 2026 Reaches Business End As Nigeria, Cameroon Renew Rivalry

By Harry Awurumibe,  Africa’s No. 1 Women Football Journalist

As the 14th edition of Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) reaches the knockout stage where a winner must emerge in each of the remaining matches, the uninspiring Nigeria’s Super Falcons are condemned to shape up or ship out.

This is even as the reigning African champions have been drawn against arch-rivals Cameroon in Sunday’s winner takes all quarter-finals encounter slated for Larbi Zaouli Stadium in Casablanca. It will be the first match Nigeria will play outside Rabat, political capital of Morocco in the ongoing  tournament.

It is expected that the West Africans would have overcome their early lethargic displays in the three Group C matches in Rabat especially the 2-3 loss to debutants Malawi in the opening match at Al Madina Stadium in Rabat on July 28, 2026.

The shambolic performance of the Super Falcons in the match especially the woeful defending, lack of midfield cohesion, blunt attack and goalkeeping errors seen in the entire 90 minutes game against newcomers Malawi got tongues wagging as regards the ability of Nigeria to successfully defend the WAFCON trophy the country won in the last edition to make it 10 titles to extend their winning streaks in WAFCON.

The second match against high-flying Zambia was not better, although Nigeria managed to run away with a lone goal victory courtesy of an Asisat Lamina Oshoala’s early minute goal to save the Super Falcons some blushes or early exit from the biggest women’s football competition in Africa.

However, with three points out of possible six and unsure of what would happen in the last group match between leaders Malawi and Zambia, Nigeria stepped up a little to show flashes of the quality the team is made of by hitting hapless Egypt 6-2 in the last Group C match.

Despite scoring six goals, Nigeria conceded two including a cheap goal in the closing stages of the encounter against Egypt at Olympic Stadium Rabat.

Although Nigeria qualified ahead of Zambia, thanks to the 6-2 annihilation of Egypt, keen followers of the 10-time African champions are not yet convinced about the ability of the Super Falcons to go all the way in the tournament especially when the competition has reached the business end where a loss means the end of the road for any of the remaining eight countries in the competition.

Critics of Super Falcons point to the facts that in three matches played in the group stage, the team has been unconvincing, uncoordinated and uninspiring with only few individual brilliance noticed so far unlike the team that won the 10th WAFCON title last year.

This much has been acknowledged by the head coach Justine Madugu who has warned his wards against any slip ups in the quarter-finals match against Cameroon on Sunday.

Ahead of Sunday’s quarterfinals tie, coach Madugu said the kind of slip that allowed the Super Falcons to be beaten by Malawi should not reoccur in the knockout stages.

“Now, we cannot afford to make the mistakes we were making at the group stage as we approach the quarterfinals. We need to put our best foot forward and tread cautiously,”  Madugu told journalists in post match interview in Rabat after Nigeria walloped Egypt 6-2  to book quarter-finals ticket.

Said he: “It is a lesson for us to understand that African football has grown. If you make a mistake, you are punished, except you get a second chance”.

Indeed, there is no outstanding player in the Super Falcons so far in this tournament unlike in the past when Nigeria paraded  outstanding players who would go on to score vital goals to bail out Nigeria in tight matches.

In the previous editions, Nigeria had produced dreaded goalscorers who single-handedly decided matches in favour of Nigeria like

Perpetua Ijeoma Nkwocha with 34 WAFCON goals.

The Imo state-born retired Nigerian international holds the record for most WAFCON goals, including 4 tournament golden boots/hat-trick records. Incredible stuff.

She is followed by another Super Falcons legend Desire Oparanozie with 22 overall Super Falcons goals, with a heavy concentration in continental matches.

Another reliable goalpoacher for Nigeria was Stella Mbachu with 20 overall goals as a vital pillar of Nigeria’s early 2000s dominance.

However, the two current players who are close to the Nkwocha,  Oparanozie and Mbachu are Uchenna Kanu who has 22 overall international goals, starring heavily in recent WAFCON qualification and Asisat Oshoala with 15 goals she scored across five different WAFCON tournaments.

In contrast, after three games by all the 16 countries in the competition, only Zambia’s talisman Barbra Banda has scored 5 goals goals just as three players Temwa Chawinga (Malawi), Inès Konan (Ivory Coast) and Marie Ngah Manga while Oshoala and Uchenna Kanu of  Nigeria have 2 goals each.

Now qualification for the FIFA Women’s World Cup is at stake in Sunday’s game against Cameroon, but according to captain Rasheedat Ajibade the Super Falcons will do “whatever they have to do to qualify for the World Cup.”

The game renews the rivalry between Nigeria and their neighbours, with the winner sealing an automatic ticket to the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Brazil.

 The Super Falcons have never lost a game to the Cameroon Lioness in the history of the tournament in 2016 just as they beat Cameroon 1-0 to lift the title in Yaoundé.

Earlier this year, Cameroon and Nigeria met in a two-legged friendlies in Yaoundé, the Indomitable Lionesses ran away with a lone goal victory in the first but Super Falcons won the second match 3-1.

The rivalry between Nigeria and Cameroon which dates back to 1991 when both met in the 1st FIFA Women’s World Cup African qualifiers (Nigeria won home and away), the match involving the two nations provided high-intensity competition between two powerhouse African women’s football teams.

History however favours the Super Falcons to fly over the Indomitable Lionesses on Sunday in Casablanca, if they can put their acts together on the day, knowing that a winner must emerge at end of a 90 minutes or 120 minutes.

For Nigeria, the time to get serious is now.