The Falconets, Nigeria’s under-20 women’s soccer team, have advanced to the next stage of African qualifying for the 2024 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup in Colombia.
The Mauritius Football Association informed the Confederation of African Football on Thursday that their U-20 women’s national team would be withdrawing from their match against Nigeria’s U-20 women’s national team, the Falconets.
“Kindly note that CAF was informed of the withdrawal of Mauritius FA from the African qualifiers of FIFA U-20 WWC 2024. Consequently, Nigeria is qualified for the next round of the competition, and the missions of all officials of matches 37 & 38 are canceled,” read a communication from CAF to the NFF.
Originally, the first leg was slated to take place next week in Saint Pierre, followed by the return leg at the Moshood Abiola National Stadium in Abuja on October 14.
Mauritius secured their spot in the second round of qualifiers with a walkover against Chad.
Africa will have two representatives at the 2024 U-20 Women’s World Cup in Colombia. In the 2022 edition held in Costa Rica, the Falconets made it to the quarter-finals, but unfortunately, they were defeated 2-0 by The Netherlands, leading to their exit from the tournament.
It’s worth noting that the Falconets were finalists in the U-20 World Cup in 2010 and 2014, though they faced defeat against Germany on both occasions.