AFCON 2025
Nigeria’s Super Falcons will face South Africa’s Banyana Banyana on Thursday in a play-off that will decide which of the two continental heavyweights advances to the intercontinental play-offs for the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup. The match kicks off at 9pm Nigeria time at the Moulay Rachid Stadium in Casablanca, with both sides arriving off the back of quarter-final exits at the 2026 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations.
The Super Falcons suffered a 1-0 defeat to Cameroon on Sunday, a result that ended their bid for a record-extending 11th WAFCON title and cost them automatic qualification for the World Cup in Brazil. Head coach Justin Madugu took responsibility for the loss afterward, telling reporters the players had given their all but could not convert their chances. “The ladies played the best that they could, but that’s the way the game was designed to go. We apologise and I take responsibility for that,” Madugu said.
South Africa exited a day earlier, beaten 2-1 by hosts Morocco in Rabat despite a late rally led by forward Thembi Kgatlana, who pulled a goal back and pushed for an equaliser in stoppage time. Banyana Banyana coach Desiree Ellis said her side would regroup quickly for the trip to Casablanca. “We didn’t want to go that route, but it’s been thrown at us, the dice turned the other way and we reminded them that we need to get ready for that game,” Desire Ellis said.
Thursday’s meeting will be the latest chapter in one of African women’s football’s fiercest rivalries. The two sides met in the 2024 WAFCON semi-final, where Nigeria came from behind to win 2-1 through a stoppage-time Michelle Alozie goal, before going on to lift that tournament. South Africa will be out to avenge that defeat and keep alive their own hopes of a third World Cup appearance, while Nigeria will be determined to protect a record of qualifying for every edition of the tournament since its inception in 1991 hosted by China.
The winner of Thursday’s clash advances to the inter-confederation play-offs later this year, where a place at the 2027 World Cup in Brazil will again be up for grabs. Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire, the other pair of WAFCON quarter-final losers, will contest the second African slot in that play-off round.
Both camps head into the match carrying the weight of missed opportunities at WAFCON 2026. Nigeria stumbled through the group stage with a shock defeat to debutants Malawi before recovering to reach the last eight, while South Africa’s campaign unravelled in Rabat after a bright start against Morocco. Neither side will want the setback to define their World Cup qualification bid, and both coaches have stressed that the tie is far from a formality given the history between the two nations.
With qualification for Brazil 2027 now hanging on a single fixture, Thursday’s match promises to be a tense affair between two teams who know exactly what is at stake and exactly how difficult the other will make it.
