In a summer full of women's soccer, the Africa Cup of Nations has intrigue
The WAFCON tournament comes during a busy summer of major women's soccer tournaments across the globe, headlined by the European Championship and the Copa América Femenina in South America.
Just as Spain seeks to follow its Women's World Cup title with a Euro trophy in Switzerland, and Brazil goes for a ninth Copa América title in Ecuador, the Super Falcons are among the favorites in Morocco.
They even have a flashy slogan: 'This is Mission X. One Team. One Goal. One More Star.'
But while Nigeria emerged atop its group, its results weren't all that impressive, capped by a scoreless draw against second-place Algeria after a slim 1-0 victory over Botswana.
It gets considerably more challenging in the WAFCON quarterfinals on Friday, when the Super Falcons face Zambia.
With their nine African titles, the Super Falcons are the continent's most successful women's team. Nigeria has appeared in the Women's World Cup nine times and reached the quarterfinals in 1999 when the field was 16 teams.
Like around the rest of the world, women's soccer is growing in Africa. At the expanded 2023 Women's World Cup, there were four African teams. In addition to Nigeria, Zambia and Morocco made their debuts and South Africa appeared for the second time. Nigeria, South Africa and upstart Morocco all advanced to the round of 16.
Part of Nigeria's Mission X is a better finish than at the last WAFCON tournament in 2022, which was won by South Africa. The Super Falcons finished fourth.
'We know why we here and the goal is to achieve our target, which is to make the Mission X possible. I mean, no team is a pushover here. Every team is a good team and every team wants to beat Nigeria. So we will try as much as possible to to to bring this trophy home,' goalkeeper Chiamaka Nnadozie said during a news conference in Morocco. 'It's not going to be easy. Trust me, it's not going to be easy. You guys you all saw what happened in 2022. But we've learned our lessons and we are here to do the right thing and to make sure we take the trophy back to Nigerians.'
Nnadozie was recently signed by Brighton in the English Women's Super League. She is one of the standout players on the squad, which includes six-time African women's player of the year Asisat Oshoala, who plays in the United States for Bay FC, and captain Rasheedat Ajibade, who plays for Atlético Madrid.
Zambia, too, has several of a growing number of African players who have caught the attention of foreign teams, including Racheal Kundananji, Oshoala's teammate at Bay FC, and Barbra Banda, who plays for the Orlando Pride.
Another indication of the growth of the sport in Africa is the WAFCON prize money. The winner will pocket a tournament-high $1 million, while the total prize pool is $3.475 million.
'The quality and standard of women's football in Africa is consistently improving and is world class,' the African confederation president, Patrice Motsepe, said before the start of the tournament.
Despite the growth of the game, there are still challenges. The biennial tournament was delayed a year because Nigeria and Zambia made the field for the Paris Olympics as well as other logistical issues. The crowds at the WAFCON games have been sparse.
Nigeria's Nike training jerseys got stuck in customs in Morocco, so the Super Falcons had to wear old kits at practice. And there have been reports that Nigeria's players were not paid their bonuses for qualifying for the tournament.
Pay disputes are nothing new to the team. Nigeria staged hotel sit-ins at both the 2019 Women's World Cup and the 2022 WAFCON to protest a lack of payments the players said they were owed by the federation.
Coach Justin Madugu says his focus is on Mission X.
'It's a Herculean task, having to shoulder the responsibility of managing a team as great as the Super Falcons, one of the best in Africa, even globally,' he said at a tournament news conference. 'Looking at the performances over the years, they have high standards, and so it is not easy for one to be given such a responsibility, but we're doing our best to sustain and even do better than what the team has done in the past, which is our ultimate goal.'
___
AP soccer:
https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
20 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Birmingham sign Brighton defender Cashin on loan
Birmingham City have completed the signing of defender Eiran Cashin from Brighton & Hove Albion on a season-long loan deal. The 23-year-old centre-back becomes the seventh summer addition to Chris Davies' squad ahead of Birmingham's return to the Championship. Cashin was a product of Derby County's academy and made 144 appearances for the Rams before moving to Brighton in January. The former Republic of Ireland youth international featured twice as a substitute in the Premier League for the Seagulls - against Aston Villa and Brentford in April. Birmingham sign Japanese midfielder Fujimoto Birmingham appoint Jutkiewicz as attack scout Birmingham aim to reach Premier League next year - Wagner Birmingham are back in the second tier after a one-season absence having romped to the League One last season with a record points tally. Cashin said the transformation of the club - on the field and off it - backed by their high profile owners was something he wanted to experience. "You can see in the media, everything that's going on in the club, and you can see the trajectory and the way it's going," he said. "That's something that's hard not to buy into. "I know the owners, and the investment has been really good for the club, and I know the manager and his style of play, and the players that have come into the club recently have all been really positive." Cashin joins permanent additions Demarai Gray, Bright Osayi-Samuel, Kyogo Furuhashi and Kanya Fujimoto plus loan signings James Beadle and Tommy Doyle in moving to St Andrew's this summer. Blues begin their 2025-26 campaign with a home game against Ipswich Town, which is also the curtain raiser for the new Championship season, on Friday, 8 August. Transfers - July 2025
Business Upturn
7 hours ago
- Business Upturn
Raheem Sterling will leave Chelsea this summer; Fabrizio confirms
Chelsea are in full revolution of the squad in this summer transfer window as they are eyeing a PL trophy of 2025/26 season. By Ravi Kumar Jha Published on July 25, 2025, 09:46 IST Chelsea are in full revolution of the squad in this summer transfer window as they are eyeing a PL trophy of 2025/26 season. They've made 4 signings and also looking forward for certain departures as Raheem Sterling set to leave the Blues. Chelsea are undergoing a full squad revolution this summer as they set their sights on winning the Premier League title in the 2025/26 season. Under new head coach Enzo Maresca, the Blues are making bold moves in the transfer market, focusing on youth, versatility, and attacking flair. So far, Chelsea have completed four key signings. João Pedro has arrived from Brighton, adding creativity and energy to the forward line. They have also brought in Liam Delap, Jamie Gittens from Borussia Dortmund, and Estêvão Willian from Palmeiras. These signings underline the club's intention to build a dynamic and youthful squad capable of competing at the top level. However, Chelsea are not just bringing in new faces. They are also preparing for a number of departures to trim the squad. One of the major names set to leave is Raheem Sterling. According to transfer expert Fabrizio Romano, Sterling has been offered to Serie A side Napoli. Ahmedabad Plane Crash Ravi kumar jha is an undergraduate student in Bachelor of Arts in Multimedia and Mass Communication. A media enthusiast who has a strong hold on communication and he also has a genuine interest in sports. Ravi is currently working as a journalist at
New York Times
7 hours ago
- New York Times
Evan Ferguson and Brighton – is there any way back?
Evan Ferguson's season-long loan from Brighton & Hove Albion to Roma is a pivotal moment in his career development. The switch to the Italian capital until next summer for the 20-year-old Republic of Ireland international striker, with the possibility of the move becoming permanent, could go one of two ways. Advertisement Everybody involved in the deal — the player, his representative, both clubs — will hope it works out the same way as it did initially at Roma for Tammy Abraham, the No 9 he is replacing at the Stadio Olimpico. After leaving Chelsea in summer 2021 as a 23-year-old, Abraham scored 17 goals in his first season in Serie A, while also helping Roma to win the inaugural UEFA Conference League and earning himself an England recall. His career has not hit those same heights since, however. An ACL injury in his left knee at the end of his second year in Italy cost him much of the 2023-24 season, before the last one was spent on loan to Italian rivals Milan, scoring only three times in 28 league appearances. The now 27-year-old joined Turkish side Besiktas, again on loan, at the start of this month — a transfer which will become permanent if certain conditions are met. His exit to Istanbul created the vacancy up front in the Roma ranks. If Ferguson hits the ground running along similar lines to Abraham four years ago, his confidence levels and prospects will be restored. Brighton will then get back a rejuvenated player at the end of a deal in which Roma have paid an initial loan fee of €3million and are covering his wages in full. Alternatively, a €37m (£32.2m$45.5m) buy option clause for Roma kicks in — a very healthy profit on a player signed to Brighton's academy from Bohemians in his homeland as a raw 16-year-old in January 2021. Do please note the 'if' at the beginning of that previous paragraph, though, because there is another scenario where his time in Italy is much gloomier. A continuing of Ferguson's downward spiral over the past 20 months — injuries contributing to irregular game time, the goals drying up and belief ebbing away — could be accompanied by a nosedive in the value to Brighton of a player who was being talked about as a £90m ($121.7m at current rates) prospect when he first broke through in the Premier League with six goals and two assists in 19 top-flight appearances in 2022-23. Advertisement In those circumstances, Ferguson would return to the Amex Stadium with the chance of re-establishing himself at his parent club further diminished and the likelihood of leaving next time for a club at a lower level than Roma and West Ham United, where he spent the second half of the last Premier League campaign on loan. The Irishman does not feature in the immediate plans of Brighton's head coach Fabian Hurzeler. That is self-evident from this move to Roma happening in the same month the German has lost Joao Pedro from his forward options for the new season, with the Brazilian's sale to Chelsea. The landscape could be different in a year's time if Ferguson's latest temporary exit goes to plan. 'For sure, he has a future at Brighton,' Hurzeler told The Athletic at the end of Brighton's training camp in Marbella, Spain, on Monday. 'I am very happy for him that we found a good solution, that he now has an opportunity to get game time. That is the most important thing for Evan. I still see a lot of potential, and I still see that he is a player for us for the future.' That switch to West Ham in January looked a logical step to re-energising the career of a player who became Brighton's youngest Premier League goalscorer against Arsenal on New Year's Eve in 2022 and the fourth-youngest to get a hat-trick in the competition's three-decade history, aged 18 years and 318 days, against Newcastle United the following September. The loan reunited him with Graham Potter, who had been his first senior head coach at Brighton, but Ferguson made just eight appearances under him for West Ham, just one as part of the starting line-up, and did not score any goals. 'It is most important that the player gets the game time, but it is also the responsibility of the player to make sure that he trains hard, to make sure that he is ready for the games,' Hurzeler said. 'We can't say to the other coach (signing him on loan) that he must play, that's his decision, but we had good talks with Roma. It is a good stage for him. He had a nice arrival. There were a lot of cheers for him and hopefully now he can bring his quality onto the pitch.' Ferguson was all smiles, signing autographs as he received a rousing reception from Roma fans at the airport as they welcomed him to Italy on Sunday, before he completed the medical and paperwork formalities of his move. What a reception for Evan Ferguson in Rome by the Roma fanbase The start of something special — Rep of Ireland Player Tracker (@reptracker) July 20, 2025 Even fresher in the minds of those expectant Roma supporters than Abraham's first-season exploits for their club will be the successes of Manchester United midfielder Scott McTominay and Ferguson's Brighton team-mate Billy Gilmour in helping Napoli to the Serie A title last season after the Scotland international colleagues moved to Italy a year ago. Advertisement That increases the pressure to deliver on a young player who has three goals in 44 Premier League appearances since that hat-trick against Newcastle and who did not score for almost a calendar year between November 2023 and last October. Ferguson was in the middle of that goal drought when he made second-half substitute appearances under Roberto De Zerbi in both legs of Brighton's 4-1 aggregate defeat by Roma in the Europa League's last 16 in March last year. On the plus side, there is a good chance he will get the game time he needs under Roma's new manager Gian Piero Gasperini, who spent the previous nine years finding various levels of success at Atalanta, including winning the 2023-24 Europa League. Roma will be competing in the league phase of that same competition in the coming season after finishing fifth in Serie A despite a campaign of managerial turbulence — Daniele De Rossi was sacked in September with just four games played, replacement Ivan Juric left after two months for a Southampton side who already looked on course for relegation from the Premier League and a 73-year-old Claudio Ranieri had to be coaxed out of retirement in November to steady the ship. 'Evan had a challenging period across the past season and a half, and it has been one disrupted by niggling injury issues which haven't allowed him a run of games,' Hurzeler says in Brighton's announcement of the Roma move. 'He is over those injuries and has come back in great shape. Now he really wants to play regularly. This is an exciting opportunity in a strong league and with the prospect of European football.' A whole country is also keeping its collective fingers crossed for Ferguson as he makes this switch to the three-time champions of Serie A. He is still the golden boy for the Republic of Ireland's national team, with five goals in 22 caps since his senior debut as an 18-year-old in November 2022, as they target a place in the World Cup next summer from a tricky-looking group also containing two Euro 2024 sides in Portugal and Hungary. For the sake of all parties, but especially a young lad who has experienced a dramatic rise and fall, this is a move that needs to work.
