WAFCON (Q): Nigeria coach Madugu apologizes for draw against Benin

Nigeria coach Justine Madugu has apologized to Nigerians for the Super Falcons’ draw with Benin in the final round of 2026 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) qualifying in Abeokuta on Tuesday.

The 10-time WAFCON champions were held to 1-1 draw at home by Benin but qualified due to their 2-0 advantage from the first leg in Togo to win 3-1 on aggregate.

Reacting after the match, Madugu apologized to the fans as he knows that expectations from the supporters are always high.

“I equally want to use this opportunity to apologise to Nigerians for not meeting their expectations. Each time the Super Falcons go out to play, there are always high expectations in terms of results and performance. I equally want to say, sometimes there can be off days, there can be bad days, and we want to consider today’s match from the result perspective. To some extent, even the performance was not what we really expected.”

However, he appreciated his teams performance, calling the match a wake-up call for them citing that the match was an off day.

“The girls did their best, they put up their best. Sometimes, you can always have some off days, so we want to consider it as one of the off days and that accounts for the way the game went. We are not too disappointed. We are taking it as a wake-up call for us to know that there is more work to be done.”

The Super Falcons gaffer also gave injury reports on Esther Okoronkwo and Deborah Abiodun following their substitutions due to injury concerns.

“For Esther, I think the injury is not that too serious. For Degora, we spoke with the medical team that they have to do an assessment. They will take her to the hospital to do a proper assessment before we know what is the extent of the injury she has sustained.”

The 2026 WAFCON will be held from 17 March to 3 April, 2026 and will serve as the qualifiers for the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup.

Some of the other teams who sealed their place are Zambia, Tanzania, Malawi, Algeria, Ghana, Burkina Faso and Kenya.