Despite failing to qualify for the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup following a disappointing 2026 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) campaign, the Super Falcons have been nominated for the 2026 CAF Women’s National Team of the Year award.
The nomination was announced on Tuesday via the Confederation of African Football’s (CAF) official X account ahead of the awards ceremony scheduled to take place in Lagos on December 7.
Nigeria’s hopes of defending their WAFCON title were ended at the quarter-final stage after they suffered a 1-0 defeat to Cameroon, missing out on a place in the semi-finals of the competition they won in 2025.
Their disappointment deepened days later when they suffered a 2-1 defeat to South Africa in a playoff clash in Casablanca, ending their hopes of qualifying for the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
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The ten-time African champions have since regrouped under interim coach Augustine Eguavoen, returning to winning ways with an emphatic 7-0 aggregate victory over Comoros in the second round of the LA 2028 Olympic qualifiers.
Their struggles over the past year have been reflected in the FIFA Women’s World Rankings, with Nigeria dropping seven places to 43rd in the latest rankings released on Tuesday, October 20. They, however, remain Africa’s highest-ranked women’s national team.
The Super Falcons will compete against nine other nations for the Women’s National Team of the Year award.
The nominees include 2026 WAFCON champions Cameroon and runners-up Malawi, who defied expectations to reach the final in their first-ever appearance at the tournament.
Algeria, Cape Verde, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Mali, Morocco and South Africa complete the list of nominees.
The 2026 CAF Awards ceremony will take place on December 7 in Lagos at the newly transformed Wole Soyinka Centre for Culture and Creative Arts, popularly known as the National Theatre.
The event marks Nigeria’s return as host of the prestigious African football awards for the first time in almost a decade.
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