Madugu aims to defend WAFCON title

Super Falcons head coach Justine Madugu says defending Nigeria’s Women’s Africa Cup of Nations title and qualifying for the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup are the team’s top goals at the next tournament. The event is set to take place from July 25 to August 16 in Morocco, according to PUNCH Sports Extra.

Nigeria won back the WAFCON title at the 2024 tournament held in Morocco last year. This win added to their record as Africa’s most successful women’s national team with 10 titles.

In a thrilling final, the Super Falcons came back from being two goals down to beat hosts Morocco 3-2. Madugu is now focused on leading the team to another victory when they return to Morocco.

“The next WAFCON will also serve as qualification for the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup, so our priority will first be to ensure that we make it to the World Cup. The second goal will be to defend the trophy and bring it back to Nigeria,” Madugu told CAF Online.

He added, “We know it won’t be easy because, as champions, everybody will now be looking at us. We are holding something precious that everybody wants, but we will remain resolute and focused and try as much as possible to achieve both objectives.”

Before the tournament, the Super Falcons played Senegal in a two-match friendly series last month. Despite Nigeria’s strong position on the continent, Madugu thinks there is still room for improvement.

“We are not a perfect team yet. We have made a lot of observations in the course of the pre-WAFCON matches we played and even during the WAFCON itself. We have analysed many areas that we know we need to work on.

“But these are technical areas that we will keep to ourselves while we continue working on them. The important thing is that we recognise there is always room for improvement and we will continue striving to make the team better.”

Nigeria has been placed in Group C with Tunisia, Algeria, and Botswana for this year’s tournament. The Super Falcons will begin their title defence against Tunisia, followed by matches against Botswana and Algeria in the group stage.

Madugu is expected to announce his squad for the tournament in the coming days.