Nigeria and Cameroon have crossed paths in WAFCON knockout football ten times before Sunday’s quarterfinal, and the history is almost entirely lopsided in the Super Falcons’ favour.
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Nigeria’s Super Falcons and Cameroon’s Indomitable Lionesses meet in the WAFCON 2026 quarterfinal on Sunday, August 9, with a place at the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Brazil on the line. It’s a rivalry with real history behind it, and the Super Falcons have dominated almost every previous knockout meeting between the two sides.
The early blowouts: 1998 to 2006
Nigeria’s first taste of this fixture came at the very first WAFCON in 1998, when they demolished Cameroon 6-0 in the semifinal on home soil before going on to win the inaugural title. The pattern repeated itself at the 2004 tournament in South Africa, where the sides met twice, a 2-2 group-stage draw followed by a one sided 5-0 final in which legendary striker Perpetua Nkwocha scored four goals on her own.
Nigeria hosted the 2006 edition and beat Cameroon 5-0 again, this time in the semifinal, on their way to a third straight title. Three meetings, three heavy Nigerian wins, and a growing sense that Cameroon simply couldn’t live with the Super Falcons on the big stage.
A closer contest emerges: 2008 to 2012
The gap narrowed considerably from 2008 onward. That year’s third-place match finished 1-1 after normal time, with Nigeria eventually winning 4-3 on penalties, a much tighter affair than the three blowouts that preceded it. Fans following the current buildup can check Bet9ja’s current promo code ahead of Sunday’s quarterfinal.
Nigeria returned to form with a 5-1 semifinal win in 2010, but Cameroon finally got their reward two years later. At the 2012 tournament in Equatorial Guinea, the Lionesses won the third place match 1-0, snapping a long run of knockout defeats and handing Nigeria their first-ever loss to Cameroon in this fixture’s history.
Finals football: 2014 and 2016
The rivalry reached its peak intensity across the next two tournaments, with both meetings coming in the final itself. Nigeria won 2-0 in 2014 to reclaim the title, then did it again in 2016, beating hosts Cameroon 1-0 through a late Desire Oparanozie goal that denied the Lionesses a home triumph after they had gone unbeaten and unscored-against through the group stage and semifinal. New Bet9ja users following the Super Falcons’ knockout run can check how to get the Bet9ja promotion code ahead of Sunday’s game.
The modern era: 2018 and 2022
Nigeria’s dominance continued into the more recent editions. The 2018 semifinal in Ghana finished goalless after extra time, with the Super Falcons winning 4-2 on penalties before going on to beat South Africa in another shootout to defend their title.
The most recent meeting came at the 2022 WAFCON in Morocco, where Rasheedat Ajibade’s second half goal settled a tight quarterfinal 1-0 in Nigeria’s favour, even though the Super Falcons were eliminated by the hosts in the next round. Bettors following Sunday’s rematch can check Bet9ja’s YOHAIG code ahead of kickoff.
Across all ten previous knockout meetings, Nigeria have won eight, drawn one that went to penalties in their favour, and lost only once, back in 2012. That record makes Sunday’s quarterfinal one of the more historically favourable pairings the Super Falcons could have drawn at this stage of the tournament, even with Cameroon arriving unbeaten and defensively solid through the group stage.
📌 Did You Know?
- Nigeria’s 2012 defeat to Cameroon in the third place match remains the only knockout loss the Super Falcons have suffered against the Lionesses at WAFCON.
- Perpetua Nkwocha’s four-goal haul in the 2004 final remains one of the great individual WAFCON final performances.
- Cameroon went the entire group stage and semifinal of the 2016 tournament, which they hosted, without conceding a single goal before losing the final to Nigeria.
- Nigeria and Cameroon have met in the WAFCON final on two separate occasions, in 2004 and 2014, with the Super Falcons winning both.
- Two of the ten previous knockout meetings between the sides were decided on penalties, in 2008 and 2018, both won by Nigeria.
- Rasheedat Ajibade’s winning goal in the 2022 quarterfinal came in a tournament where Nigeria ultimately finished outside the podium places for the first time in years.
- Nigeria’s 1998 and 2006 wins over Cameroon both came at tournaments hosted on Nigerian soil.
