Standing Still: No surprises, the Falcons have fallen
What should have happened Twenty years ago, Nigeria’s advantage in African women’s football was so overwhelming that a serious, funded, long-term plan could realistically have produced a World Cup semi-finalist by now.
So, there was no real surprise on Sunday when a 19th-minute free-kick from Cameroon’s Myriam Nyadjou was enough to end Nigeria’s title defence at the quarter-final stage in Casablanca, the earliest continental exit for the Falcons in recent memory, and one that leaves their automatic ticket to the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Brazil gone.
Compare that to Morocco, which five years ago launched a deliberate national women’s football strategy, based on youth academies, a professionalised league, coaching pipelines, and is now reaping continental finals and automatic World Cup qualification as a direct result.
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