Women's World Cup 2027: Nigeria 'still have hope' after Wafcon 2026 exit

Goalkeeper Chiamaka Nnadozie says Nigeria have to "go back to the drawing board" after missing out on automatic qualification for the 2027 Fifa Women's World Cup.

The Super Falcons failed to reach the semi-finals of the ongoing 2026 Women's Africa Cup of Nations (Wafcon) in Morocco, falling to a 1-0 defeat by Cameroon in the last eight on Sunday.

By reaching the last four, Cameroon have now guaranteed a ticket to next year's World Cup in Brazil alongside fellow semi-finalists Algeria, Malawi and Morocco.

It means Nigeria, last year's Wafcon champions, will now face South Africa in a play-off on Thursday (20:00 GMT) for a spot at an inter-confederation qualifier later this year which could give them another chance to reach the global showpiece.

"This is football, this is life," Nnadozie told the BBC World Service.

"What happened happened, we just have to keep our heads high. There's still hope - it's not over yet."

Nigeria have featured at all nine previous editions of the Women's World Cup stretching back to the inaugural finals in China in 1991.

The Super Falcons made the quarter-finals in 1999 and progressed to the last 16 at the most recent two tournaments.

Yet, after losing their Wafcon crown, Justin Madugu's side need to get past 2022 champions South Africa to remain in the hunt for a place at the expanded 32-team World Cup.

"The coach has been cheering us up, and we really appreciate that from him," Nnadozie said.

"On Thursday we'll go out strong, we'll try to do better than we've done [against Cameroon] and hope to get to the next stage of the World Cup.

"We will go there and make things right."

Elsewhere on Thursday, Ghana take on Ivory Coast for Africa's second spot at the inter-continental qualifier.

The two Wafcon play-off winners will enter a 10-nation global competition which features a preliminary stage, to be held in November and December, ahead of a final stage in February which will decide the last three qualifiers for the 2027 World Cup, which begins on 24 June.

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