Super Falcons:How 10-time African Champions Tumbling FIFA Monthly Ranking Can Stop

By Harry Awurumibe, Editor, Abuja Bureau

Nigeria’s Super Falcons’ current 43rd position in the October FIFA Women’s International Rankings, dropping seven places from 36th place the last time calls for a big concern.

This is even as the Super Falcons were once ranked 23rd in the world in 2003, which also stands as the team’s highest-ever global FIFA ranking in history under the coaching combo of late coach Ismaila Mabo Samuel Okpodu. Mabo coached the Super Falcons in its ‘Golden Era’ (handling periods including 1995–2003 and returning later), while Samuel Okpodu took charge for the 2002 African Women’s Championship (AWC) win and the 2003 World Cup campaign.

Although an official global ranking did not exist in 1999, Nigeria’s Super Falcons achieved their best-ever performance at the 1999 FIFA Women’s World Cup in the United States by reaching to the quarter-finals stage (finishing tied for 5th–8th place overall).

Under the indigenous coach Ismaila Mabo, Nigeria only lost a thrilling 4–3 match quarter-finals match to Brazil via a golden goal just as Nigeria dominated the continental Monthly Standing for decades. Nigeria has also dominated African football at the time, having won the AWC now Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) since 1998.

In fact, the performance of the Super Falcons ensured that Nigeria qualified for the 8-team Sydney Olympic Games 2000 in Australia as the teams that finished from 1 to 7 in the 1999 FIFA Women’s World Cup finals in USA qualified for the Sydney Olympic Games with Australia completing the field.

However, 27 years after Nigeria finished joint 5th-7th in 1999 and 23 years after the FIFA Women’s World Ranking system was officially introduced and published for the first time in July 2003, when Nigeria debuted at 23rd position globally, the country’s fortunes have nosedived badly.

It is more disappointing to notice that the 10-time African champions have dropped 20 places in the monthly FIFA Rankings in 23 years, a situation which should worry Nigerian sports administrators ahead of the search for the next head coach of the Super Falcons.

Indeed, the recent 43rd ranking of Super Falcons which is a direct consequence of a disastrous 2026 WAFCON outing in Morocco last August (under the tutelage of former head coach Justine Madugu) which saw Nigeria fell 2-3 to debutants Malawi in the group stage and lost 0-1 to Cameroon in the quarter-finals to miss the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup finals automatic ticket.

Also, the 2-1 loss to South Africa in the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup African Play-off match was responsible for the free fall of the Super Falcons in the FIFA Rankings.

A closer look at Nigeria’s Super Falcons ranking showed that the team has maintained between *36th – 38th position in the world and 1st in Africa* since 2003 when Alhaji Ismaila Mabo left the team his successors including late coaches Ntiero Effiom Ntiero and Joseph Ladipo better known as Jossy Lad.

Others are coach Eucharia Uche, Kadiri Ikhana, Godwin Izilien, Khadiri, Edwin Okon, Christopher Danjuma and Florence Omagbemi in 2016.

However, when Nigeria switched to a foreign coach in 2018, Thomas Lennart Dennerby from Sweden, the first full-time head coach of Super Falcons who met Nigeria ranked 38th globally when he assumed duty on January 25, 2018 took the team upwards and left it ranked 36th in the FIFA/Coca-Cola Women’s World Ranking, 2 steps upwards and still maintaining her position as the top-ranked women’s national team in Africa.

Also, the second expatriate manager of Super Falcons, Randy Waldrum from United States who was appointed on October 2020 also left the Falcons ranked 36th in the world when his contract expired on September 12, 2024 after full four years on the job.

Unfortunately, coach Justine Madugu who inherited the 36th ranked team in September 2024, following Randy Waldrum’s departure as interim coach and later transitioned to substantive head coach after winning WAFCON title in 2025.

But Madugu was unable to reach the semi-finals of 2026 WAFCON thus Nigeria missed the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup finals ticket to Brazil leading to his sacking and he has now left the team tumbling in the Monthly FIFA Women’s Rankings.

In fact, the current 43rd ranking of Nigeria’s senior women’s football team showed that the team has now experienced its biggest point loss (-83.54pts) by any nation in the women’s football world.

Sincerely, this 7 place drop is a reflection of how bad things have degenerated in the Super Falcons both in coaching and playing departments especially in the last six years (2020 to 2026), with the Randy Waldrum’s era seeing the Super Falcons team dominated by diaspora players.

Prior to the hiring of Waldrum who combined the Super Falcons job with that of the head coach of the University of Pittsburgh women’s soccer team the Panthers which he chose in December 2017 after rejecting the offer to coach Nigeria, Super Falcons went unbeaten in Africa for decades.

For example, Super Falcons paraded 100% home-based players when Nigeria went unbeaten in Africa for 11 years, finished joint 5th-7th in the 1999 FIFA Women’s World Cup and ranked 23rd in the world in 2003 when the Monthly FIFA/Coca-Cola Women’s World Ranking system debuted.

Nevertheless, with Nigerian domestic league players going abroad to ply their trades, both indigenous and expatriate technical adviser, Thomas Dennerby invited a few exceptional performing overseas-based Nigerian professional players to build a stronger Falcons.

But all that changed in 2020 when Randy Waldrum introduced the policy of “Diaspora Players” into Super Falcons set up –those players who were born abroad with any trace of Nigerian heritage from parents and even grandparents.

This way Super Falcons welcomed players born in USA, Canada, United Kingdom, Holland, Germany, Switzerland and even in Malawi like forward Chioma Okafor.

Others born abroad are Ashleigh Plumptre, England; Michelle Alozie, USA; Toni Payne & Nicole Payne, USA; Rinsola Babajide, England; Jennifer Echegini, Netherlands and Ifeoma Onumonu, USA.

Although, some of these players have justified their invitation to the Super Falcons, the wholesale adoption of the diaspora players only and neglect of the homegrown players has conspired to make the once fearsome Super Falcons vulnerable as witnessed in the recent time especially in the last WAFCON in Morocco.

There were 24 foreign-based players in Nigeria’s 25-player Super Falcons squad for 2026 WAFCON where only one home-based player, goalkeeper Fatima Oloko of Abia Angels in the Nigeria Women Football League (NWFL) made the 25-woman roster.

The 24 foreign-based players featured by Nigeria were competing in leagues across England, France, Spain, Italy, USA, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Canada, China, and Israel.

Despite the domination of Super Falcons by foreign-based and diaspora players, the team has continued to tumble in the Monthly FIFA Women’s Rankings, a situation which has put a question mark on the country’s over reliance on the diaspora and foreign-based players.

For the ardent followers of women’s football in Nigeria, the country’s sports administrators, the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) and the supervising National Sports Commission (NSC), have a duty to hire an experienced technically and tactically-sound head coach with verifiable records of leading a national team to win a trophy or medal either in continental or global competitions like WAFCON, FIFA Women’s World Cup or Olympic Games Women’s Football Tournament.

Without much ado, Thomas Dennerby whose short but rewarding stint with Super Falcons meets the requirements having won the FIFA Women’s World Cup Bronze Medal with Sweden senior women’s football team in 2011 and qualifying Sweden for two consecutive Olympic Games Women’s Football Tournament.

He also on his first few months in charge won the 2018 WAFCON title, WAFU trophy in 2019 and leading Nigeria to the Round of 16 of 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup in France even as he remains the only expatriate manager who watched Nigerian women’s league matches and also graduated many players from Flamingos and Falconets to the Super Falcons.

They include goalkeeper Chiamaka Nnadozie, captain Rasheedat Ajibade, defenders Glory Ogbonna, Chidinma Okeke, midfielder Christy Ucheibe and forward Chinwendu Ihezuo, Anam Imo and others he took to both 2018 WAFCON in Ghana and 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup finals in France respectively. He can do it again.

I rest my case