Nigeria’s Flamingos beat Japan 2-1 in Rabat on Saturday to win the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup, becoming the first African team to lift the trophy, and returned to Abuja on Monday morning to a reception from Nigeria Football Federation officials and supporters.
Awawu Bashiru put Nigeria ahead in the 39th minute with a long-range effort that Japan goalkeeper Kou Kadowaki spilled, according to match records. Oluebube Umejiaku doubled the lead within two minutes of the restart. Fuki Ito pulled one back for Japan in the 80th minute, and the Flamingos then held on through a stoppage period that ran to 11 minutes. The final was played at the Mohammed VI Football Complex in Morocco, which hosted the tournament, with Natalie Simon as referee.
Japan arrived as the tournament’s most formidable side. The 2014 champions had won all six of their matches before the final, and had scored more goals at the competition since 2008 than any other nation. Nigeria had no such record to lean on.
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The route to the final began badly. The Flamingos lost their opening group match 2-1 to Poland, edged Puerto Rico, and then beat defending champions Korea DPR 3-1. They went on to beat Mexico 2-1 in the round of 16 and Venezuela 1-0 in the quarter-final, the latter settled by a late penalty. On November 4, they beat Brazil 3-1 in the semi-final, with Queen Joseph scoring in the second half and Bashiru adding two goals; Greise Kelly replied for Brazil in the 89th minute. One match report says Nigeria is the first team to lose its opening game and still win the title, and that five different Nigerian players were named Player of the Match, which it calls a FIFA record for a single edition. Both claims rest on that single report and are unconfirmed against FIFA’s own records.
Hakeem Busari, the Flamingos’ head coach, said after the final that the result reflected years of development rather than luck. “What we are seeing now is not a fluke,” he said. He added that the team had competed in a hard group that included the defending champions, and that he hopes more African sides will reach the knockout rounds and the final in future editions.
Busari also described how the match was managed. His technical staff had identified Japan’s strength in winning second balls and in using space behind defensive lines, he said, and the Flamingos responded by directing long balls into open areas rather than to places where Japan could win possession. Nigeria sought an early goal, he said, then turned more cautious after taking the lead, and Japan found its equalizer from a set piece. He called the match a tactical contest decided by collective defending, discipline and game management. The match records ATN reviewed list Ito’s 80th-minute goal without specifying how it came, so the set-piece detail rests on Busari’s account.
The team’s qualification had been less contested. Before traveling to Morocco, the Flamingos won the 2026 WAFU-B U-17 Girls Cup in Côte d’Ivoire, winning all five matches, scoring 17 goals and conceding one.
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President Bola Tinubu congratulated the squad in a statement issued Sunday by his spokesperson, Bayo Onanuga. The statement said Tinubu received the news on his return from campaign engagements in Akwa Ibom and Rivers states. He said he had followed the team’s run, and that after the semi-final the players had promised to bring the trophy home. “You have written your names in gold,” he said. Tinubu singled out Bashiru and Umejiaku, whose goals won the final, and also thanked the coaching crew, the Nigeria Football Federation and the National Sports Commission. He said his administration would keep investing in grassroots sports and in opportunities for girls to develop their talent.
Other congratulations followed. Senate President Godswill Akpabio and Edo State Governor Monday Okpebholo were reported to have issued messages, and FIFA president Gianni Infantino was reported to have applauded the result; the full text of those messages was not available. Umejiaku was also reported as the winner of the tournament’s Golden Ball, but the awards list itself was not available, so the award is unconfirmed until FIFA publishes it.
The team landed at Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja in the early hours of Monday, ahead of a reception at the airport by federation officials and fans.
The victory is a first for both Nigeria and Africa at the U-17 women’s level. Before this tournament, the Flamingos’ standing as one of the continent’s leading age-grade sides rested on continental results rather than a world title.
Nigeria’s opening match of the tournament, against Poland, ended in a 2-1 defeat.
