‘An absolute afterthought’: the story of the Nigeria women’s team’s fall from grace

The Super Falcons won’t be at the World Cup and with the prize money going up, they risk being left even further behind

It was a historic result in Casablanca – but not in a good way. Nigeria’s 2-1 defeat against South Africa in a playoff in August meant that the Super Falcons are missing out on the World Cup for the first time. It is a crushing blow for the most decorated national side in Africa across both men and women, one that has won no fewer than 10 Wafcon titles.

The journalist and lecturer Dr Victor Ademola was in Morocco the day of the defeat. “It was a very difficult evening,” he says. “Some players were visibly emotional while others appeared to be processing what had just happened. I saw players crying as they got on to the team bus while some sat alone or remained on their phones, looking very sad.”