Super Falcons head coach, Justine Madugu, has apologised to Nigerians following the team’s failure to qualify for the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
Nigeria’s hopes of featuring at the tournament were ended after a 2-1 defeat to South Africa in the Confederation of African Football play-off at the 2026 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco on Thursday.
Speaking after the match in an interview posted by News Central TV on Friday, Madugu accepted responsibility for the disappointing result and admitted that the team’s mistakes and inability to convert chances proved costly.
“I have to apologise to Nigerians over our inability to make it to the World Cup. We are very sorry. It was not our intention.
“We came, did the best that we could, but our best was not good enough.
“And we’re very sorry for that, and we take full responsibility for everything that happened. There can always be a next time. I’m sorry,” Madugu said.
The Falcons had initially missed the chance to secure an automatic World Cup ticket after suffering a 1-0 quarter-final defeat to Cameroon.
However, the continental play-off offered Nigeria another route to the tournament.
The opportunity ultimately slipped away as South Africa punished defensive mistakes and took control of the game.
Thembi Kgatlana broke the deadlock in the 56th minute before Refiloe Jane extended Banyana Banyana’s advantage in the 77th minute.
Nigeria reduced the deficit in stoppage time when Christy Ucheibe converted from the penalty spot after a VAR review awarded the Falcons a penalty and saw Jane sent off.
Despite the late pressure, Nigeria could not find an equaliser.
Madugu acknowledged that the Falcons created enough opportunities but failed to make them count.
“We had chances. Still, the conversion was another problem. And, uh, we made some little errors at the back. They capitalized on that, and, uh, they got the goals that they also got,” he said.
The coach also blamed individual mistakes and poor decision-making for the goals conceded by his side.
“It is something that we really regret and feel very sorry about because it was more of individual errors in terms of decision-making that accounted for what actually happened.
“Of course, we will say we have a goal-scoring problem because we have not been clinical in front of goal. We have not been clinical. We create several chances, but we are very wasteful with the opportunities that always come our way.
“If we were very clinical in front of goal—I mean, we would have been scoring a lot of goals,” he said.
According to Madugu, Nigeria had sufficient chances to put the game beyond South Africa’s reach before half-time.
“So, we have to blame ourselves for it. We have to blame ourselves because we did not take the chances that keep coming our way. This was a game we would have finished since first half based on the opportunities that we had, but we couldn’t utilize them,” Madugu said.
“In the second half, we still got chances. How many chances did South Africa get? But because they were more clinical, they converted the chances that came their way. Today, they are the ones that won the match.”
The defeat has ended Nigeria’s remarkable record of appearing at every edition of the Women’s World Cup since the competition began in 1991.
South Africa, meanwhile, have secured passage to the intercontinental play-off tournament, where they will have another opportunity to qualify for the 2027 World Cup.
