WAFCON Preview: Super Falcons Face Zambia in High-Stakes Showdown

Defending champions Nigeria’s Super Falcons will face 2022 bronze medalists Zambia in their second Group C encounter of the 2026 CAF Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON).

The clash of titans will take place by 9:00pm (WAT) at the Al Madina Stadium in Rabat and is expected to produce fireworks.

Nigeria V Zambia

Nigeria suffered a third successive opening match defeat at the WAFCON when they lost 3-2 to Malawi on matchday one.

This will only be the second time Nigeria will start a WAFCON campaign with zero points from their opening two games and they will only do so if they fail to win.

Head coach Justine Madugu has hit back at critics who heavily criticised his tactics and the team in general after Nigeria’s shock loss to Malawi in their opener.

“We know what we are doing. The first match is behind. “The mood in the camp is good and now we are looking forward to Zambia,” the coach said. “We lost and people have the right to ask questions.”

“But it was not the first game that I have managed with this group. We’ve won plenty more. We know what we are about. We do player assessments every day. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don’t.

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“I take all the responsibility and I want to do better in the next game. It’s win or lose. We know exactly what is on the line,” Magudu said.“We want to qualify for the World Cup.”

‘And we will do everything to rectify the mistakes of the first match. We learned what didn’t work. “We also did a lot of study on Zambia and came up with a plan to counter their strengths.”

Zambia.

The Zambians were impressive in their opening 6-0 win over Egypt and will run into a Nigeria side that will be with their backs to the wall after suffering a shock 3-2 defeat to newcomers Malawi.

Senior women’s football team – Zambia Zambia’s senior women’s football team
A second win on the trot would put the Copper Queens in a good position to make the quarterfinals. Meanwhile, the Super Falcons can no longer afford any mistakes.

A second defeat will seal their early exit – an unthinkable scenario for the defending champions who are one of only two teams to have featured in every edition of WAFCON.

Zambia may go into the match full of confidence but coach Nora Häuptle is not getting carried away. She expects a strong reaction from the Nigerians.

Zambia women’s national football team

“Nigeria will bring their best. “ They have to win to stay alive in this tournament,” the Swiss coach warned.

She said that the Super Falcons may not have displayed their full potential in their defeat to Malawi.

“They started very well against Malawi and created a lot of chances. “We know their strength and we know they can raise their level,” Häuptle said.

“We’re just looking at ourselves. We have a very clear plan to take on them. If we do it perfectly on the pitch, we are convinced that we can beat Nigeria. Zambia never draws. It’s not in our DNA. We play to win all the time.”

She also thinks that her team have come a long way since they exited at the hands of Nigeria in the quarterfinal of the last edition, a heavy 5-0 defeat then.

We need to be able to attack with intensity, and at the same time be defensively very well organised. “We have to be balanced to stop Nigeria counter-attacking,” concluded Häuptle.

Head To Head Nigeria VS Zambia1

Nigeria and Zambia will be meeting for the fifth time at the WAFCON. This is the third time they have met in the group stage.

It will be their third straight meeting in the finals.
Nigeria have won three of their last four meetings with Zambia winning one.
The teams have met before in 2014, 2018, 2022 and in the last edition. Nigeria won the first two encounters, both group games, 6-0 and 4-0 respectively.
In 2022 Zambia beat Nigeria 1-0 in the third-place play-off.
The last time Nigeria met them was in the quarter finals of the last edition which they won 5-0. Nigeria led 3-0 at half time with goals from Osinachi Ohale in the second minute, Esther Okoronkwo in the 33rd and Chinwendu Ihezuo in the 45th.
Oluwatosin Demehin added Nigeria’s fourth goal in the 68th minute and Folashade Ijamilusi sealed the scoring in second-half stoppage time.
Nigeria have scored 15 goals against 1 by Zambia in their last four encounters.