Super Falcons captain Rasheedat Ajibade has broken her silence following Nigeria’s painful failure to qualify for the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup, insisting that she and her teammates gave everything in their ultimately unsuccessful campaign at the 2026 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco.
Nigeria’s hopes of extending their remarkable record of appearing at every Women’s World Cup came to an end last Thursday after the Super Falcons suffered a 2-1 defeat to South Africa in the CAF play-off.
The result brought an unprecedented setback for the 10-time African champions, who had never missed a World Cup since the tournament was first staged in 1991.
Nigeria had earned another opportunity to revive their qualification hopes after their earlier 1-0 quarter-final defeat to Cameroon.
That loss had already ended the Falcons’ extraordinary record of reaching at least the semi-finals at every previous WAFCON edition they had contested and confirmed their worst-ever finish in the competition.
The disappointment was particularly painful given Nigeria’s status as defending champions.
The Super Falcons arrived in Morocco having won the WAFCON 10 times, with their most recent title coming in 2025 when they produced a stunning comeback to beat hosts Morocco 3-2 in the final after falling two goals behind.
However, South Africa ended their World Cup hopes in the play-off.
Thembi Kgatlana broke the deadlock in the 56th minute before Banyana Banyana captain Refiloe Jane doubled their advantage in the 77th minute.
Nigeria responded late, but their effort was not enough to overturn the deficit and force another comeback.
Days after the heartbreaking defeat, Ajibade took to X on Sunday to address Nigerian supporters, acknowledging the magnitude of the disappointment while defending the commitment of…
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