Nigeria women's national under-20 football team
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The Nigeria women's national under-20 football team, nicknamed the Falconets, represents Nigeria in international youth women's football competitions. Its primary role is the development of players in preparation for the senior women's national team. The team competes in a variety of competitions, including the biennial FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup and African U-20 Women's World Cup qualification, which are the top competitions for this age group.
| Nickname(s) | Falconets | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Association | Nigeria Football Federation | ||
| Confederation | CAF (Africa) | ||
| Sub-confederation | WAFU (West Africa) | ||
| Head coach | Christopher Danjuma | ||
| FIFA code | NGA | ||
| |||
| First international | |||
 Nigeria 6–0 Mali  (Nigeria; 7 April 2002) | |||
| Biggest win | |||
Nigeria 10–0 Sierra Leone  (Nigeria; 2014) | |||
| Biggest defeat | |||
 Japan 6–0 Nigeria (Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea; 13 November 2016) | |||
| African U-20 World Cup qualification | |||
| Appearances | 11 (first in 2002) | ||
| Best result | Champions; Qualified for World Cup (2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2018, 2022, 2024, 2024) | ||
| FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup | |||
| Appearances | 11 (first in 2002) | ||
| Best result | Runners-up (2010, 2014) | ||
The team has qualified for every edition of the FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup and has been runners-up twice, losing to Germany on both occasions, in 2010 and 2014.
Fixtures and results
- Legend
Win Draw Lose Fixture
The coaching squad for the 2022 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup was announced by the Nigeria Football Federation on 14 August 2022.[1]
| Position | Name |
|---|---|
| Head coach | Christopher Danjuma |
| Assistant coach | Olanrewaju Wemimo Matthew |
| Assistant coach I | Moses Opuamowei Aduku |
| Assistant coach II | Charity Nnedinma Enwere |
| Assistant coach III | Bilikis Aina Tijani |
| Goalkeeping coach | Yahaya Audu |
A 30-player preliminary squad was announced on 25 June 2022.[2] The final squad for the 2022 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup was announced in August 2022.[3]
FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup record
| FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Result | Matches | Wins | Draws* | Losses | GF | GA | ||
| 2002 | Group stage | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 5 | ||
| 2004 | Quarter-finals | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 5 | ||
| 2006 | Quarter-finals | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 13 | 6 | ||
| 2008 | Quarter-finals | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 6 | ||
| 2010 | Runners-up | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 6 | ||
| 2012 | Fourth place | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 9 | 4 | ||
| 2014 | Runners-up | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 15 | 7 | ||
| 2016 | Group stage | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 8 | ||
| 2018 | Quarter-finals | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | ||
| 2022 | Quarter-finals | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 3 | ||
| 2024 | Round of 16 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 5 | ||
| 2026 | To be determined | ||||||||
| Total | 11/12 | 48 | 22 | 10 | 16 | 78 | 59 | ||
African U-20 Women's World Cup Qualification record
| African U-20 Women's World Cup qualification | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Appearances: 10 | ||||||||
| Year | Round | Position | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA |
| 2002 | Champions | 1st | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 19 | 2 |
| 2004 | Champions | 1st | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 0 |
| 2006 | Qualified for World Cup | 1st | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 20 | 3 |
| 2008 | Qualified for World Cup | 1st | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 2 |
| 2010 | Qualified for World Cup | 1st | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 22 | 4 |
| 2012 | Qualified for World Cup | 1st | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 0 |
| 2014 | Qualified for World Cup | 1st | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 0 |
| 2015 | Qualified for World Cup | 1st | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 21 | 3 |
| 2018 | Qualified for World Cup | 1st | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 23 | 2 |
| 2022 | Qualified for World Cup | 1st | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 25 | 2 |
| 2024 | Qualified for World Cup | 1st | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 2 |
| Total | 11/11 | 2 Titles | 45 | 44 | 2 | 0 | 205 | 20 |
Football at the African Games record
| Football at the African Games | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Appearances: 1 | ||||||||
| Year | Round | Position | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA |
| 2019 | Champions | 1st | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 7 | 1 |
| Total | 1/1 | 1 Title | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 7 | 1 |
Intercontinental
Continental
- Football at the African Games
- Gold medalists: 2019
- ^ "2022 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup Squad List" (PDF). FIFA. 14 August 2022.
- ^ Ahmadu, Samuel (25 June 2022). "U20 Women's World Cup: Omewa makes Nigeria's 30-woman provisional squad". Sport News Africa.
- ^ "Falconets' Coach Names World Cup Squad As Team Depart For Costa Rica". Channels TV. 5 August 2022.
- http://dailypost.ng/2015/09/24/falconets-to-depart-for-kinshasa-on-thursday/
- "Ihezuo leads Falconets to Kinshasa for DR Congo – Goal.com". goal.com. Retrieved 2 July 2017.
- "Falconets leave for Kinshasa/". punchng.com. Archived from the original on 28 September 2015. Retrieved 2 July 2017.
- "NFF to invite US – based to Falconets camp | Peoples Daily Newspaper". peoplesdailyng.com. Retrieved 2 July 2017.
- "Ihezuo tops Falconets list for DR Congo qualifier – Goal.com". goal.com. Retrieved 2 July 2017.
- "Fifa U20 Women's World Cup- Liberia up against Nigeria's Falconet on 11 July". liberiaentertainment.com. Retrieved 2 July 2017.
- "Freekicknaija.com". freekicknaija.com. Retrieved 2 July 2017.[permanent dead link]
- "Falconets off to Kinshasa on Thursday". thenff.com. Archived from the original on 9 September 2018. Retrieved 2 July 2017.
- "Female U20: US-based Nigerian invited by NFF – The Eagle Online". theeagleonline.com.ng. Retrieved 2 July 2017.
- Official Nigeria Football Federation website Archived 25 November 2020 at the Wayback Machine