Nigeria’s senior women’s team, the Super Falcons, will learn their opponents for the race to the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles as the Confederation of African Football conducts the official draw in Cairo on Wednesday.
The exercise, which signals the beginning of Africa’s qualification series, is scheduled to take place at CAF’s headquarters at 1pm and will be broadcast live via the federation’s YouTube platform.
No fewer than 35 countries have registered for the qualifiers, highlighting the intense level of participation across the continent.
Teams confirmed for the campaign include Algeria, Angola, Benin Republic, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Comoros, Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, DR Congo, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Morocco, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Seychelles, South Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
CAF has designed the qualification format to span five rounds, with only two African representatives earning places in the women’s football competition at the 2028 Olympics, set to hold from July 11 to 29 across Los Angeles and other venues in the United States.
The United States will feature as title holders, while African sides will be looking to surpass recent outings, following Nigeria and Zambia’s qualification for the Paris 2024 edition.
For Nigeria, the draw will outline their initial path in what promises to be a demanding knockout campaign, where consistency will be crucial due to the limited number of available slots.
Overall, the women’s football event at the 2028 Olympics will comprise 16 teams, including the host nation, with the remaining 15 spots to be decided through qualification tournaments organised by the six continental football bodies.
