Sports247 can report that Nigeria’s female national team, Super Falcons have a tedious but apparently smooth route to traverse through the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup qualification play-offs.
With the ten-time African champions having failed to qualify for the semi-finals of the ongoing continental championship in Morocco, they have failed to make it directly to the World Cup for the first time since its inception in 1991.
Back then, Nigeria was the only African country that made it to China and repeated the feat four years later im Sweden, then went all the way to the quarter-finals at the 1999 edition in USA, before losing 3-2 to Brazil via a sudden death ‘golden goal’ in extra time.
However, while other African countries like Zambia, South Africa, Cameroon, Morocco, and now Malawi are growing in leaps and bounds, the Falcons are rapidly waning.
The team’s decline came to the fore glaringly during the ongoing Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON 2026) in Morocco, where they lost their opening match 3-2 to debuting Malawi, who have shocked the continent by reaching the semi-finals, thereby picking a World Cup ticket at their first time of trying.
On the other hand, Nigeria lost their quarter-finals fixture 1-0 to old foes and eastern neighbours, Cameroon, which knocked them out of an automatic ticket to Brazil 2027.
Fortunately for the Falcons, next year’s expanded Mundial, like the male version that recently ended in USA, Canada and Mexico, gives ‘second chance’ opportunities to teams from all the continental confederations to still qualify through the route of playoffs, and Africa has two spots to grab.
The journey towards picking those slots starts this Thursday, when Ghana first lock horns with Cote d’Ivoire, after which Nigeria will settle scores with another arch-rival, Banyana Banyana of South Africa.
It does not end there, as both winners from Thursday’s games still have two further stages ahead of them at the intercontinental level, first in November/December and then early next year.
The first stage looks easy on paper, as the Falcons will have to confront anyone among little known Chinese Taipei, Uzbekistan, Papua New and Ecuador in a first knock-out game based on current FIFA rankings.
Just as was the case with the male playoffs, two finals will hold at the first intercontinental level, from which the winning teams will move on to the next stage at the start of 2027, where ten countries will be in contention for only three remaining slots to the Mindial in Brazil.
Countries that are currently in contention for the final stage of the playoffs are Costa Rica, Venezuela, Haiti as well as one nation from Europe and another from Asia, with the fixtures again set to be based on FIFA rankings.
Sports247 gathered further that Nigeria’s strides beyond the group stage in the last two editions of the World Cup should give the Falcons seeding spots and favourable draws in both stages of the intercontinental qualification playoffs.
