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

2024 Set of Falconets
Nigeria’s Falconets will clash with Rwandan intermediate girls, She-Amavubi in the second round of the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup Poland 2026 African qualifiers slated for Kigali on September 19 with the return leg in Nigeria on September 28, 2025.
As expected, the Rwandans who took a bold step to qualify for the second round of the competition by beating their Zimbabwean rivals 2-1 in the first round first leg tie last week at Kigali Pelé Stadium, Kigali, completed the job after a barren draw in the revised fixture away at National Sports Stadium, Harare to qualify on 2-1 aggregate to meet Nigeria.
The Falconets were drawn bye in the first round, thanks to their pedigree in the competition as they boast 44 wins and three draws from previous qualifying campaigns. Nigeria and Rwanda will be meeting for the first time at the U-20 women’s football level.
Elsewhere, South Sudan thrashed hapless Djibouti 8-0 yesterday in their return leg tie at Juba Stadium to qualify for the second round stage on a 13-0 aggregate as the Starlets of South Sudan also went goals-crazy by walloping Djibouti 5-0 in the first leg match last week.
The Sudanese will now wait for their opponents to emerge as the second leg first round qualifiers will be played across Africa this weekend with the two-legged ties between Gabon and Niger Republic while six other countries will no their faith tomorrow.
Africa will be represented by four countries at the 2026 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup next year in Poland.