The Super Falcons will get a new coaching team before they start the 2028 Women’s Olympic qualifying campaign in October. Bukola Olopade, the Director-General of the National Sports Commission, shared this news.
On Monday, the Nigeria Football Federation told the current coaches, led by Justine Madugu, to step down. This decision came after the team’s poor performance at the 2026 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco.
Nigeria had their worst exit ever from the tournament. They lost 1-0 to Cameroon in the quarter-finals. This loss meant they could not automatically qualify for the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup. A 2-1 defeat by South Africa in the CAF play-off ended their hopes.
Others who lost their jobs include former Falcons goalkeeper Ann Chiejine, goalkeeper coach Auwal Makwalla, and Swedish coaches Igor Krulj and Per Karlsson. Krulj worked as a video analyst and Karlsson was the fitness coach.
Now, the NFF needs to find new coaches for the team. The Olympic qualifiers are coming up fast. “The Olympics are around the corner. We will see how we can change the technical team of the Falcons like we did for the U-23, which coach Eric Chelle will handle. This is because we want to qualify for the Olympics,” Olopade said.
The Falcons made a return to women’s football at the Paris 2024 Olympics after 16 years but were out after the group stage.
Nigeria will begin their qualification campaign in October against Comoros. Comoros moved to the next round after a huge 30-0 win over Sudan.
They won the first leg 17-0 on June 3 and completed the rout with a 13-0 victory five days later.
Olopade said the NSC and NFF will work to change the Falcons’ coaching setup before the Olympic qualifiers. He emphasized the need to make sure Nigeria returns to the Games.
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