Nigeria’s road to U20 World Cup almost complete

Nigeria is the only African nation to qualify for every edition of the FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup, since the competition began in 2002.

by Marabou News Agency

The Nigeria U20 women’s national team, the Falconets has stepped up training ahead of this year’s edition of the FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup tournament in Poland, from September 5-27. librea.one

Nigeria, Tanzania, Benin and Ghana will represent Africa in the biennial competition. No African team has ever won the FIFA U20 women’s World Cup title in the tournament’s 24-year history, with the four teams now having the burden of re-writing history.

The Falconets are by far the most successful African team in the tournament, having finished runners up against Germany in both 2010 and 2014. Other past African representatives included Ghana and DRC who exited in the group stage.

In Abuja, the Nigerian squad is going through the paces to be ready, with residential training having commenced four weeks ago.
Moses Aduku, the team’s head coach in an interview with Marabou News Agency believes it is possible for Nigerian or any other African team to win the World Cup.

Their target, is coming back with the World Cup trophy despite it being a tough task.

“I think mentality is important right now and we have been working on that, and the girls are getting it right. We are telling them that it is possible to win the World Cup. Yeah, training is good but the mentality must be 100% and we have been working hard with them, and I think one game at a time,” the coach said.

Captain Joy Igbokwe said they will go to Poland and give their best with a view of making Nigerians and Africans proud.

“Our goal is to go to Poland and give our best and come back with the Cup. We have great peers in the team, from the U17 to the U20 and we are good to go. We are young, we are determined, we are focused.”

The Falconets secured qualification to the U20 World Cup after an impressive qualifying campaign. They registered a 5-0 aggregate win over Rwanda in the second round before edging Senegal 3-2.

They then sealed their ticket to Poland with a 3-2 aggregate victory over Malawi in the final qualifying round. Nigeria is the only African nation to qualify for every edition of the FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup, since the competition began in 2002.

Marabou News Agency

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Three players were selected during the camp and will now travel to Andorra for an all-expenses-paid, one-week academy experience.

by Marabou News Agency Staff

More than 50 young footballers completed an intensive six-day training camp conducted by FC Andorra international, in partnership with New Hera Interconnection.

The program, the first by FC Andorra in Kenya, saw young players learn from elite Spanish coaches and immerse themselves in a professional football environment.

Throughout the camp, players trained using FC Andorra’s top-level methods, focusing on technical skills, tactical awareness, and real match scenarios tailored to modern European standards.

Participant Ibrahim Omar said the competitive environment encouraged teammates to push one another rather than lose hope.

“The camp since day one has been enjoyable, the teammates are supportive we push each other. We are always there for each other, like. Even though there are only two slots, we are always pushing each other so that even though you’ve not been picked, there’s always next time so that you don’t put your heads down and stop playing football,” Omar said.

He added that the camp was a great chance to learn new coaching styles.

“This camp is fun. It’s also important because it helps me push myself more and understand how football is. Also being able to be trained by different coaches from different countries, it helps me learn from a new environment,” he said.

Eventually, FC Andorra selected three players for academy experience, while other participants were awarded partial scholarships.

The selected players will travel to Andorra for an all-expenses-paid, one-week academy experience organized by the program.

Marabou News Agency

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Head coach Freda Kemp hopes her team’s victory on Tuesday will give netball a boost in the region, after hosts Cape Town edged Tshwane to lift the trophy at the Spar National Netball Championships.

In a tightly contested final that swung back and forth, experienced goal shooter Sigi Burger scored with one second left as Cape Town secured a narrow 56-55 win over Tshwane, who had gone unbeaten in their previous eight matches at the six-day domestic showpiece.

Having lost to Johannesburg in last year’s final, Kemp was delighted with her side’s hard-fought triumph.

“We lost the final by one point last year, and as they say, the table was set for us here in front of our home crowd,” Kemp said.

“We really worked hard to make sure the players had everything they needed to perform at the highest level, and we’re very proud of what we did today.”

Hoping for more financial support

While the Western Cape side won the title in 2016, when teams represented provinces, it was the first time Cape Town won the senior A division final since the structure of the national championships was changed, with teams now representing districts.

Though she was pleased with her squad’s performance, and with the progress they had made in terms of development, Kemp was particularly relieved to win the title because she believed this would help the Cape Town region rake in more support and funding for local netball.

“We’ve been working hard the last few years getting finances for netball, and I said to my team and the federation that we need to start winning in order to attract sponsors,” she said.

“So that was in the back of my mind, apart from developing netball and winning, to take netball forward in Cape Town.”

Tshwane making progress

With her team having finished fifth in last year’s tournament, Tshwane coach Rozanne Matthyse was satisfied with their turnaround, despite narrowly missing out on lifting the trophy.

“This could have been anybody’s game and I’m very proud. For me it’s 10 steps forward with such a young team – most of our players are under 25 – so we have a lot to be grateful for and I’m looking forward to what’s coming,” Matthyse said.

Earlier on Tuesday, Mangaung earned a narrow 45-44 win over Johannesburg in the third-place play-off in the senior division.

In the U21 age group final, defending champions Johannesburg coasted to a convincing 53-38 victory over Tshwane.