Nigeria’s U-20 women’s national team has received a bye in the first round of the 2026 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup qualifiers. They will advance directly to the second round (round of 32), where they will face the winner of the Rwanda-Zimbabwe match.
The draw for the qualifying phase was held at the CAF Headquarters in Cairo on Thursday. A total of 38 African teams have entered the competition, with 26 teams receiving exemptions from the preliminary round based on their performance in the previous qualifying phase and the last Women’s World Cup.
The 12 lowest-ranked nations will compete in the first round. These teams are Gabon, Niger, Rwanda, Zimbabwe, Tunisia, Togo, Ivory Coast, Gambia, Djibouti, South Sudan, Malawi, and Central African Republic.
The six qualifiers from the first round, along with the 26 exempted teams, will progress to the second round. Sixteen teams will advance to the third round, and ultimately, four teams will represent Africa at the World Cup.
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As a result of qualifying for the previous World Cup, Nigeria has been seeded to play one of the lower-ranked teams in the second round.
The first leg of the second round matches will be played between September 19th and 21st, 2025, while the second leg will take place between September 26th and 28th, 2025.
Nigeria will face either Senegal or Algeria in the third qualifying round in February of 2026 while the final qualifying round will be played in May of 2026.
Cameroon, Ghana and Nigeria represented Africa at the 2024 edition of the World Cup in Colombia. Nigeria concluded their campaign in the Round of 16, while Cameroon and Ghana finished at the group stage.
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