The CAF draw in Cairo has confirmed Nigeria’s Super Falcons will face the winner of Sudan vs Comoros in the second round of the LA 2028 Olympic qualifying campaign, with the tie taking place in October 2026 as Africa’s long road to Los Angeles begins.
Nigeria’s Super Falcons are Africa’s number-one ranked women’s team and the reigning WAFCON champions. As a seeded team, they receive a bye directly into the second round of the LA 2028 Olympic qualifying campaign. Wednesday’s draw at CAF headquarters in Cairo confirmed their second-round opponents will be whoever emerges from the first-round clash between Sudan and Comoros, scheduled for between June 1 and 9, 2026. The Falcons’ own two-legged second-round tie is set for October 5-13, 2026. The winner over two legs advances to the third round, and eventually one of two African representatives will qualify for Los Angeles 2028.
On paper, this is a favourable draw. Sudan and Comoros are not among the continent’s established women’s football powers, and whichever progresses, Nigeria are heavy favourites over two legs in October. The more competitive tests will come in later rounds if the Falcons advance, where they would face the continent’s stronger programmes. The draw matters less for the immediate September than for the psychological preparation: Nigeria know their first test, they know the timeline, and coach Justine Abakah has a clear window to prepare her squad. Nigerian fans who want to follow the Super Falcons through the qualifying campaign can use Bet9ja’s YOHAIG promo code ahead of the October ties.
Elsewhere in the draw, several heavyweight clashes stand out. Tunisia will face Senegal. Morocco will take on Congo. Cameroon meets Guinea. Zambia plays Uganda. The competition across all five qualifying rounds involves 35 African nations, confirming just how competitive the continent’s women’s football landscape has become since Nigeria’s dominant years in the 1990s and early 2000s.
The Olympics and Nigeria’s Mixed History
The Super Falcons’ Olympic record is one of the more complex stories in Nigerian women’s football. They made their Games debut in 2000 and reached their best finish at Athens 2004, where they reached the quarter-finals, the best performance by any African women’s team at an Olympics at the time. After 2008, they endured a 16-year absence before returning at Paris 2024, where they were eliminated in the group stage after difficult draws against Spain, Japan and Brazil.
That Paris exit, combined with Nigeria’s failure to qualify for the men’s Olympics in the same cycle, has made the Los Angeles 2028 campaign feel like a redemption mission for the national programme. For the Falcons specifically, the group-stage elimination at Paris 2024 despite the quality in the squad was a painful result. Players like Asisat Oshoala, Rasheedat Ajibade and Chiamaka Nnadozie were all in that squad, and a proper run at the tournament in Los Angeles is the natural next ambition for a generation that has already delivered WAFCON success. Bet9ja’s women’s football page covers all the Super Falcons fixtures across the qualification campaign.
The Bigger Summer Picture
The Olympic qualifying draw arrives as Nigeria prepares for an enormous summer of women’s football. The Falconets face Malawi this Saturday in a U20 Women’s World Cup qualifier. WAFCON 2026 is scheduled for Morocco in July and August. The Super Falcons now have their LA 2028 Olympic qualifying path confirmed. Nigeria’s women’s football programme has never had a more densely packed international calendar, and the challenge for coach Abakah is to build and maintain squad momentum across all three competitions without burning out her best players. New Bet9ja users who want to follow Nigeria’s women’s teams through the summer can get started with the YOHAIG welcome bonus before the Falconets vs Malawi match on Saturday.
📌 Did You Know?
- Nigeria’s Super Falcons are the most successful women’s national team in African football history, having won the Africa Women Cup of Nations eleven times, more than any other nation on the continent.
- Only two African teams will qualify for the women’s football event at the LA 2028 Olympics from a pool of 35 nations, making the five-round qualifying process one of the most competitive elimination campaigns in international women’s football.
- Nigeria’s best Olympic women’s football result remains their quarter-final appearance at Athens 2004, where they defeated South Korea and Japan in the group stage before losing to Germany in the last eight, a performance that still stands as the best by an African team in Olympic women’s football history.
- Sudan and Comoros, the two teams whose first-round winner will face Nigeria, represent contrasting profiles: Sudan are a growing east African women’s football nation, while Comoros, an island nation in the Indian Ocean, are one of the smaller CAF members by population and infrastructure.
- The LA 2028 Olympics women’s football event is scheduled for July 11-29, 2028, taking place across multiple venues in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Kansas City, making it one of the most geographically spread football tournaments in Olympic history.
- Asisat Oshoala, who played at Paris 2024 with the Super Falcons, is one of the most decorated African women’s footballers in history with six CAF Women’s Player of the Year awards, and her potential participation at LA 2028 would make it her fourth Olympic appearance.
- Nigeria’s 16-year Olympic absence between 2008 and 2024 coincided with a period of administrative challenges in Nigerian women’s football, including funding disputes and qualification failures, making the successful return at Paris a significant milestone for the programme’s recovery.
