U-20 Women’s World Cup (Q): Moses Aduku confident as Falconets look to finish job

Nigeria U-20 women’s national team head coach Moses Aduku confirmed that his side is fully focused on their 2026 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup qualifying final round, second leg clash against Malawi.

​The Falconets will take a 2-0 lead to Malawi for the decisive return leg scheduled for Saturday. The aggregate winner of this tie will qualify for this year’s World Cup finals in Poland, which is set to run from September 5th to 27th.

TOUCHDOWN!🛩

The 🇳🇬Falconets have arrived 🇲🇼Lilongwe, Malawi, for their second leg clash with the Malawi Women’s U20 side.

They lead the tie [2-0] after the win in Ikenne last weekend.#SoarFalconets pic.twitter.com/tIapY72wSD

— NGSuper_Falcons (@NGSuper_Falcons) May 6, 2026

Nigeria locked in on U-20 Women’s World Cup qualifying mission​

Speaking ahead of Saturday’s crucial tie, Aduku emphasized that his players are ready for the task at hand.

“We are here to play and to win. The players understand the importance of this match, and we are fully prepared mentally, tactically, and physically for the challenge ahead.”

Nigeria’s U-20 girls have appeared at every edition of the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup since its inception as an U-19 tournament in 2002. They featured at Canada 2002 and Thailand 2004 (when the tournament was still for U-19 players).

It transitioned to U-20 competition before the 2006 finals in Russia. Since then, Nigeria has maintained its perfect qualification record, appearing in Chile 2008, Germany 2010, Japan 2012, Canada 2014, Papua New Guinea 2016, France 2018, Costa Rica 2022, and Colombia 2024.

​While Nigeria looks to extend its historic streak, Malawi will be hoping to pull off an upset and make their debut at the biennial tournament.