By Akinwale Kasali
After a shambolic display at the just concluded Women’s Africa Cup of Nations, WAFCON, that cost the country the automatic FIFA World Cup ticket and missing out at the Intercontinental Playoffs, the leadership of the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, has sacked Super Falcons Coach, Justine Maduagu, alongside his Technical Crew.
The President Ibrahim- Gusau led NFF ordered all the Coaching and Technical Team of the Super Falcons to step down with immediate effect.
In a tweet by the NFF on its X handle, it stated, “The Executive Committee of the Nigeria Football Federation has asked members of the technical crew of the @NGSuper_Falcons to step down with immediate effect,” NFF tweeted.
In the history of Nigeria’s Female Football and in the continent at large, the 10-time African Champion has never failed to appear at the FIFA World Cup since its inception in 1991, and it has never failed to reach the last four at every WAFCON Championship.
Its shambolic and lackluster performance at this year’s tournament has raised series of questions, with the future of some of the players in the Super Falcons fold uncertain.
No doubt, this is the worst outing of the Super Falcons at any WAFCON Tournament, having been knocked out of the competition in the quarter-finals for the first time in their history.
The team was largely unconvincing throughout the tournament and ultimately suffered a 1-0 defeat to Cameroon in the last eight.
That result meant Nigeria missed out on an automatic qualification ticket to the FIFA Women’s World Cup for the first time.
Instead, the Super Falcons were condemned to the playoffs, where they needed to overcome South Africa in the African playoffs before advancing to the Inter-Confederation playoffs.
However, their hopes of reaching the tournament suffered another setback as they fell 2-1 to Banyana Banyana of South Africa.
The disappointing result means the Super Falcons will not feature at the 2027 Women’s World Cup in Brazil, prompting the NFF to wield the big stick.
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