The Super Falcons of Nigeria will contest with the Indomitable Lionesses of Cameroon for a place in the semi-finals of the 2026 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations and an automatic ticket to the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Brazil when both sides clash in Casablanca on Sunday (today).
The quarter-final match, the standout fixture of the last eight, will hold at the Larbi Zaouli Stadium at 6pm Nigeria time, with the winner advancing to the semi-finals and qualifying for the World Cup, while the loser will enter the African play-off route in their bid to reach Brazil.
Nigeria, 10-time WAFCON champions and defending champions, endured a difficult route through the group stage, losing their opener 3-2 to debutants Malawi before recovering with a 1-0 victory over Zambia.
Asisat Oshoala scored the winner in the Zambia game, where Nigeria played more than 50 minutes with 10 players following Oluwatosin Demehin’s dismissal.
The Falcons then produced their best performance of the group stage in their final game, thrashing Egypt 6-2 with six different players finding the net to finish second in Group C.
Cameroon, meanwhile, topped Group D unbeaten, opening their campaign with a 2-1 win over Mali, with Marie Gisele Ngah Manga scoring twice. They followed that with a 1-0 victory over Ghana through another Ngah Manga goal from the penalty spot before drawing 1-1 with debutants Cape Verde.
The last competitive meeting between the two nations came in the 2022 WAFCON quarter-finals in Casablanca, where Rasheedat Ajibade’s 56th-minute strike sent Nigeria into the semi-finals.
Speaking ahead of Sunday’s encounter, Super Falcons head coach Justine Madugu said the team’s objective remained qualification for the World Cup and retaining their continental crown.
“Our objective remains picking the World Cup ticket and then going ahead to retain the trophy. Nothing has changed,” Madugu told a press conference in Casablanca on Saturday.
“We know what it means, and we will be ready for it.”
Midfielder Jennifer Echegini admitted Nigeria had work to do defensively but said the squad had used the group stage to address its shortcomings.
“I feel like the teams we have faced have all gotten better as time and years have gone along,” Echegini told Elegbete TV.
“But definitely we have to look at ourselves and realise that some of the things that have happened, and some of the goals that have been scored, are quite unusual for us as a team.
“So we definitely worked on tightening the midfield, figuring out our back line, and other little stuff like that.”
Nigeria, ranked first in Africa and 36th in the world, will start as the higher-ranked side, but Cameroon will be confident after going unbeaten through the group stage.
The Lionesses, who finished runners-up in 2016, have not reached the WAFCON semi-finals since that edition and missed the 2024 tournament, determined to make Sunday’s clash a major victory for the team.
