Madugu eyes WAFCON title defence News

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Madugu eyes WAFCON title defence

By Daily Sports Nigeria on July 1, 2026

Super Falcons head coach Justine Madugu says defending Nigeria’s Women’s Africa Cup of Nations title and securing qualification for the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup will be the team’s two major objectives at the next tournament, scheduled to hold from July 25 to August 16 in Morocco, PUNCH Sports Extra reports.

Nigeria reclaimed the WAFCON crown at the 2024 tournament, held in Morocco last year, extending their record as Africa’s most successful women’s national team with 10 titles.

In the memorable final, the Super Falcons came from two goals down to defeat hosts Morocco 3-2, and Madugu has now set his sights on leading the team to another triumph when they return to the North African country.

“The next WAFCON will also serve as qualification for the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup, so our priority will first be to ensure that we make it to the World Cup. The second goal will be to defend the trophy and bring it back to Nigeria,” Madugu told CAF Online.

“We know it won’t be easy because, as champions, everybody will now be looking at us. We are holding something precious that everybody wants, but we will remain resolute and focused and try as much as possible to achieve both objectives.”

Ahead of the tournament, the Super Falcons faced Senegal in a two-match friendly series last month, and despite Nigeria’s dominance on the continent, Madugu believes there is still room for improvement.

“We are not a perfect team yet. We have made a lot of observations in the course of the pre-WAFCON matches we played and even during the WAFCON itself. We have analysed many areas that we know we need to work on.

“But these are technical areas that we will keep to ourselves while we continue working on them. The important thing is that we recognise there is always room for improvement and we will continue striving to make the team better.”

The Super Falcons have been drawn against Zambia, Egypt and debutants Malawi in Group C of this year’s tournament.

Madugu is expected to name his squad for the tournament in the coming days.

Source Punch Ng

Posted July 1, 2026