2025: Highs and Lows in Nigerian Sports

Highs — Moments of Pride and Triumph
Super Falcons’ Historic WAFCON Title Nigeria’s Super Falcons captured a record-extending 10th Women’s Africa Cup of Nations crown in Morocco, coming from two goals down in the final to beat the hosts 3–2  a testament to resilience and continental dominance.

D’Tigress Make AfroBasket History The Nigerian women’s basketball team, D’Tigress, claimed their fifth consecutive FIBA Women’s AfroBasket title and seventh overall, defeating Mali 78–64 — the first team ever, male or female, to win five in a row.

Junior Yellow Greens Shine at Women’s U19 T20 World Cup Nigeria’s U19 women’s cricket team won its first ever World Cup match, beating New Zealand on debut — a major landmark for a sport that’s rapidly growing in the country.

Lows — Setbacks and Frustrations
Super Eagles Miss Out on the 2026 World Cup Perhaps the biggest blow of the year was the Super Eagles failing to qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, ending their campaign in a playoff defeat — a major disappointment given the talent in the squad.

Poor Showing at World Athletics Championships Nigeria’s athletics team underperformed at the 2025 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, bringing home only two medals — silver for Tobi Amusan and bronze for Ezekiel Nathaniel — despite high expectations.

Youth Football Struggles Several Nigerian youth sides stumbled internationally: the U-17 women’s team (Flamingos) exited the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup in the Round of 16, and others fell short in key age-group competitions — highlighting gaps in development.

Editorial

Nigerian sport in 2025 unfolded like a drama written in two competing scripts. One brimmed with excellence, belief and trailblazing women rewriting continental history. The other was scarred by missed chances, structural fragility and the familiar ache of unfulfilled potential. Together, they formed a compelling, sometimes uncomfortable, portrait of a sporting nation still searching for balance.

At the summit stood Nigeria’s women. The Super Falcons’ 10th WAFCON triumph was not merely another trophy for the cabinet it was a reminder of institutional memory, winning culture and resilience deeply ingrained over decades. D’Tigress, relentless and revolutionary, extended their AfroBasket dynasty with a fifth straight title, elevating Nigerian basketball into global conversations about sustained excellence. These were not flashes of brilliance they were systems delivering results.

Yet football, the country’s most powerful cultural force, told a different story on the men’s side. The Super Eagles’ failure to qualify for the 2026 World Cup felt seismic. Not because Nigeria lacks talent — Europe’s top leagues testify otherwise — but because cohesion, planning and clarity once again faltered when margins narrowed. It was a sobering reminder that abundance of ability does not guarantee collective success.

Elsewhere, sparks of hope flickered. The Junior Yellow Greens’ breakthrough at the U19 Women’s Cricket World Cup hinted at what targeted investment can achieve in emerging sports. Athletics offered moments of pride, but also underscored a widening gap between expectation and podium reality on the world stage.

The lesson of 2025 is not one of despair, but of direction. Nigerian sport thrives when preparation meets purpose, when governance empowers athletes rather than hinders them. The women showed what is possible when excellence is protected and ambition is sustained. The challenge now is whether the rest of the sporting ecosystem is willing to learn.

History rewards those who adapt. Nigerian sport, standing at this crossroads, must decide which script it wants to keep writing.

Did You Know?

1. Nigeria’s women’s teams accounted for over 70% of the country’s major international trophies won in 2025, underlining a clear performance gap between men’s and women’s programmes.
2. D’Tigress became the first African team  men or women  to win five consecutive continental basketball titles, a feat unmatched across FIBA Africa competitions.
3. Nigeria invested more federal funding in football than all other sports combined in 2025, despite football delivering fewer international successes than basketball and women’s football.
4. The Junior Yellow Greens’ win at the U19 Women’s Cricket World Cup marked Nigeria’s first-ever victory at any ICC World Cup level, male or female.
5. Nigeria has now failed to qualify for two of the last three FIFA World Cups, a sharp contrast to the nation’s near-constant presence between 1994 and 2018.