Super Falcons star Asisat Oshoala is confident that the team has the quality to reclaim the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations title in Morocco.
The 2025 Africa Women’s Cup of Nations in Morocco is expected to kick off from July 5 to July 26.
The Super Falcons are the most successful team in the history of the competition since it became full-scale in 1998, winning 11 of the 14 editions. They have also made it to at least the semi-final in every tournament they have played.
The team last won the competition in 2018, under the tutelage of Thomas Dennerby, the Super Falcons failed to impress at the last edition in 2022 when the team finished fourth as South Africa emerged champions for the first time.
Oshoala, who was a key member of the 2018 title-winning team, has revealed that the team is ready to bring the trophy back to Nigeria.
She said: “As usual, we have to focus on 2025 and grab another opportunity to try again and get back to winning ways and bringing trophies home like we used to.
“Also, there is a lot of work that needs to be done and after the past couple of tournaments, we are building on the positive outcome. Although we didn’t come out of the group stage of the Olympics, I think we had good competition and we were able to compete with them.
“We have incredible young talents from the local league and foreign-based players learning to play with one another better now.
“The year 2025 is going to be better. The mentality is different now, everyone wants to win, and the players are fighting for shirts because there is no automatic spot. We have had back-to-back top games and we just have to keep that up and the WAFCON will be a good outing for us.”
The Super Falcons recorded a double victory over Algeria in a two-legged friendly match in October, with the first match ending 2-0 and the second match finished 4-1 as part of their preparations for the Women’s Nations Cup.
Similarly, The Nigeria Football Federation President, Ibrahim Gusau has also tipped the Super Falcons to reclaim the WAFCCON trophy.
He said: “My projection is that we are going to get back our trophy because as far as I’m concerned that trophy belongs to Nigeria and that’s why we are not taking any chances.
“Every single FIFA window we will give them the opportunity to have a quality friendly match.
“Before the WAFCON I think we have about two windows which we intend to make sure that we utilise them effectively to make sure they have good preparation.
“As I’ve said we are trying to see how we can inject young girls from our local league which we feel are going to bring a lot of positive impact into the team.”
The Super Falcons will take on Tunisia, Algeria, and Botswana in Group B of the 2025 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations.
Justine Madugu is expected to lead the team to the tournament after serving as an interim manager since the departure of Randy Waldrum.
The Super Falcons struggled to impress in their last major competition, failing to make it past the first round in the football tournament of the 2024 Olympics in Paris. They lost all their three matches against Brazil, Spain, and Japan.
