By Olawale Lawanson Alabi

Abeokuta, October 26, 2025 ——- Nigeria’s Super Falcons are returning this Tuesday to a ground not only familiar but also with an element of good luck for them as they round off their qualification campaign for the 2026 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON).

The ten-time champions will be hosting their Republic of Benin counterparts at the M.K.O. Abiola Sports Arena in Abeokuta in the second leg game of their final round fixture in the qualifiers for the 2026 event scheduled for Morocco next March.

With a 2-0 win on Friday in the first leg tie played in Togo’s Lome, the Nigerian side who are the competition’s defending champions look very good enough for qualification.

They are now buoyed by the fact that the Abeokuta venue is the one where they played their final friendly during preparations for the 2024 WAFCON which they won last August in Morocco.

The Falcons will therefore be playing with full assurance that they are already on their way to Morocco for a shot at their eleventh title.

However, it is not as if the visitors can stop them from defending their title, it is just that the Super Falcons will be seeking to put up a delightful performance before their Nigerian counterparts.

It is their first outing on home soil since their success in Morocco, and the players will also be looking forward to staying on in reckoning for invitation to the team when preparations for the March 2026 event would begin.

The real deal will be in the defence of their title then, from March 17 to April 3, especially when it is a fact that tickets to the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup will be at stake also.

There , they are likely to be challenged by hosts Morocco as well as the likes of Ghana, Zambia, Ghana, Mali and South Africa.

Zambia won their away tie 4-2 against Namibia in Windhoek, and now have a simple job to do in the return leg in Ndola on Tuesday.

Ghana’s Black Queens thrashed hosts Egypt 3-0, while Mali got the better of Cape Verde 1-0 away in Praia, even as South Africa’s Banyana Banyana forced the Democratic Republic of Congo to a 1-1 draw away from home.

But Angola and Malawi ended their first leg in Luanda scoreless, just as Senegal and Cote d’Ivoire did in Dakar, thereby throwing the fixtures open.

Hosts Kenya saw off The Gambia 3-1 in Nairobi while Algeria edged Cameroon 2-1, and those fixtures look much open too.

Burkina Faso and Tanzania should be comfortable with their 2-0 leads against Togo and Ethiopia respectively ahead of their return legs on away ground.

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