Nigeria were made to work hard by Malawi, but the Falconets ultimately secured their place at the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup Poland 2026.
Having claimed a comfortable 2-0 home victory in the first leg in Ikenne, the young Nigerians endured a difficult start in Lilongwe and conceded from a set-piece in the eighth minute through Faith Chinzimu. Far less assured than they had been in the opening encounter, the Falconets saw their two-goal aggregate advantage wiped out when Chinzimu completed her brace in the 57th minute after racing clear down the left flank and calmly finishing past the goalkeeper.
Fortunately for Nigeria, a costly mistake from captain Leticia Chinyamula allowed the alert Oscar Precious to win possession, burst into the penalty area and fire home an unstoppable effort. With the away-goals rule still leaving Malawi needing two more goals, the hosts were unable to complete the turnaround, as Moses Aduku’s side celebrated qualification in front of a stunned home crowd.
Alongside the USA and Brazil, Nigeria will head to Poland as one of only three nations to have appeared at every edition of the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup.
After coming from behind to defeat Uganda 2-1 in their first leg thanks to goals from Priscilla Mensah and Latifa Abesik, Ghana also endured a tense return fixture. In Kampala, it was the hosts who struck first through a moment of brilliance from Sylvia Kabene. After surging down the left wing, the young forward shaped to cross before unleashing a powerful strike into the top corner beyond the helpless Belinda Maku. Combined with Agnes Nabukenya’s away goal from the first leg, the strike temporarily put the Queen Cranes on course for qualification.
As they had done in the first leg, however, Ghana responded after the interval. Reduced to ten players and under mounting pressure, captain Linda Owusu Ansah stepped up with a decisive set-piece from near the corner flag, as her superbly struck effort curled into the far top corner to send the Black Princesses through.
Ghana will now compete at the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup for the eighth edition in a row, and in September will attempt to progress beyond the group stage for the very first time.
CAF qualifying for the finals will conclude on Sunday with the return legs between Tanzania and Cameroon, and Benin and Côte d’Ivoire. Those encounters will complete the line-up of 24 teams set to compete in Poland from 5 to 27 September across four host cities.
