Nigeria's Golden Eaglets Miss Out on 2026 U-17 AFCON and World Cup
Nigeria's U-17 men's team, the Golden Eaglets, have missed out on qualification for the 2026 U-17 AFCON and the subsequent FIFA U-17 World Cup. This follows their elimination from the WAFU B tournament by Ghana. Head coach Manu Garba has expressed frustration with CAF's allocation process, arguing that Nigeria, as the top-ranked team at the U-17 level, should have more qualifying slots.
CAF's current structure allocates qualifying slots as follows: WAFU A with three slots, WAFU B with two slots, North Africa with five slots, and Central East with ten slots for the U-17 AFCON. Garba criticized this distribution, pointing out that WAFU B, with seven countries, should have at least three slots, while WAFU A, with eight countries, has three slots. He believes this disparity disadvantages Nigeria and other West African nations.
Founded in 2010, the WAFU Zone A has three slots, while the WAFU Zone B, established later, has only two. Garba argues that this historical difference should not dictate the number of slots allocated to each zone.
Manu Garba's frustration highlights the perceived imbalance in CAF's allocation process. Nigeria's failure to qualify means they will miss both the 2026 U-17 AFCON and the 2026 FIFA U-17 World Cup. The Golden Eaglets' elimination by Ghana in the WAFU B semi-final has exacerbated the situation, leaving Garba and his team to reflect on what could have been.
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