The Super Falcons are expected to have a new technical crew before they resume their 2028 Women’s Olympic qualifying campaign in October, Director-General of the National Sports Commission, Bukola Olopade, has disclosed.
The development follows the Nigeria Football Federation’s decision on Monday to dissolve the technical crew headed by Justine Madugu after the team’s disappointing showing at the 2026 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco.
The Falcons suffered their earliest-ever exit from the competition after a 1-0 quarter-final defeat to Cameroon.
The result also meant Nigeria failed to secure automatic qualification for the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup, before a 2-1 loss to South Africa in the CAF play-off ended their hopes of reaching the tournament.
Other members of the technical crew affected by the decision include former Falcons goalkeeper Ann Chiejine, goalkeeper coach Auwal Makwalla, as well as Swedish duo Igor Krulj and Per Karlsson, who served as video analyst and fitness coach respectively.
With the Olympic qualifiers approaching, the NFF now faces the task of putting together a new technical structure capable of guiding the 10-time African champions back to the Games.
“The Olympics are around the corner, we will see how we can tweak the technical team of the Falcons like we did for the U-23, which coach Eric Chelle will handle. This is because we are desirous of qualifying for the Olympics,” Olopade revealed.
Nigeria returned to the women’s football event at the Paris 2024 Olympics after a 16-year absence but failed to progress beyond the group stage.
The Falcons are scheduled to restart their Olympic qualifying campaign in October against Comoros, who reached the second round after recording a 30-0 aggregate victory over Sudan.
Comoros secured a 17-0 win in the first leg on June 3 before completing the emphatic victory with a 13-0 triumph five days later.
Olopade added that the NSC and NFF would work together to restructure the Falcons’ technical setup ahead of the qualifiers, underlining the need for Nigeria to secure another appearance at the Olympics.
