Stakeholders on Monday expressed displeasure over the Super Falcons’ 0-1 loss to the Indomitable Lionesses of Cameroon in the quarter-finals of the ongoing 14th Women’s African Cup of Nations (WAFCON) in Morocco.

The Super Falcons, 10-time winners of the competition, were dumped out by rivals Cameroon in a fiercely contested quarter-final clash in Casablanca.

Cameroon struck early in the 19th minute, capitalising on a well-struck free kick to break the deadlock against the run of play.

Reacting to the loss, Wale Salami, a sports investment executive at OmniAfrica, decried the loss, noting that it was a pointer that the Falcons had lost their spark.

“Our female national team have lost their spark; the team lost the first match to debutant Malawi, a team that we thought would be a walk in the park.

“It is high time we stopped thinking Super Falcons will continue to dominate women’s football in Africa, while others stand by and watch them, so they better up their games.

“Now, Cameroon have overcome them and thrown the Falcons’ performance into the dustbin of history.

“The onus is on the NFF to restrategise in terms of players and coach recruitment, welfare, as well as our women football league; in fact, the entire women football ecosystem,” he said.

A fan, Olatunji Babalola, urged the NFF to reposition for better productivity, noting that while other sports were progressing, Nigeria’s football was declining.

“The recent loss of the Super Falcons should be an avenue to reposition our football house. They have not done well at all; our football, especially the national teams, is not doing well.

“From the Super Eagles to the cadet teams and others, they have not been doing well in recent years. We have missed two World Cups, while the Golden Eaglets have not qualified in the last eight years.

“Now, the same degeneration is happening to the Super Falcons that have once dominated African football. This is sad.

“The NFF as governing body was not ready for this competition at all.  Imagine, the Super Falcons did not have a single warm-up match before the tournament; so what magic are we expecting?” he said.

A Sports analyst, Ifeoluwa Leo, berated football administrators for the unfortunate loss in the quarter-finals of the competition.

“For the first time in the history of WAFCON, the Falcons are out at the quarter-finals. They conceded the most number of goals amongst all quarter-finalists.

“Also, the Falcons were defeated by debutants Malawi, in which they conceded the highest number of goals in a single game.

“The handwriting was legibly written on the wall. We got here right from the set of players the coach, Justin Madugu, selected for WAFCON 2026.

“From the day we lost to Malawi, it was obvious the coach was tactically bankrupt and technically deficient, but some will defend any nonsense for their vested interest and stomach infrastructure,” he said.

Mr Leo added that the National Sports Commission (NSC) should have risen to its oversight duty to ensure that the NFF do the proper thing.

“The NSC led by Shehu Dikko is in Morocco throwing money at the same team they refused to prepare adequately, refused to utilise most international windows, and when they did, it was low-quality games we played literally.

“Sanusi and NFF kept hiding Madugu under a finger only to expose him at a competition that has the World Cup ticket embedded in it.

“Football has its way of ensuring you go the route of disgrace when you are grossly incompetent. Madugu’s only coaching record as a coach is with Adamawa United into relegation, and NFF believes that is what Super Falcons deserve?” he added.

Nigeria will face South Africa’s Banyana Banyana later this week for a place in the InterContinental playoff for the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup finals in Brazil.

(NAN)