Nigeria’s Flamingos have done what no African side had managed before: won the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup. They beat Japan 2-1 in Saturday’s final at the Mohammed VI Football Complex in Rabat, and FIFA president Gianni Infantino was quick to mark the occasion.
Awawu Bashiru and Oluebube Umejiaku scored the goals that put Nigeria 2-0 up. Fuki Ito pulled one back for Japan, but the Flamingos held on. Against a Japanese side with a serious pedigree in this age group, that is a composed way to win a final.
A first for the continent
Infantino’s message was short and to the point. He congratulated Nigeria as world champions, called them the first African team to win the tournament and said the win was “well deserved in the final”. He also had words for the beaten finalists. Japan took silver after what he called a great tournament, and DPR Korea took bronze.
The compliment to Japan is worth more than politeness. The Little Nadeshiko won this competition in 2014 and have been a fixture in the later rounds ever since. DPR Korea, meanwhile, have won the title three times, and the podium Nigeria joined in Rabat was made up of established powers. The Flamingos did not slip into a gap in the draw. They went through the sides who had been dominating this age group.
Why this one lands differently
Nigerian women’s football has never lacked a reputation. The Super Falcons have won the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations more than any other nation and have been the continent’s flagbearers at senior World Cups for decades. What they have not had is a world title to point to. The senior side has never got past the quarter-finals of the Women’s World Cup, and the gap between dominating Africa and winning globally has been a stubborn one.
The Flamingos have now closed it at youth level. That matters because the youth game is where the pipeline is built. A group of teenagers who have beaten the world’s best at 17 will arrive in senior camps with a different sense of what is possible, and the girls watching them at home will grow up with a different idea of where the ceiling is.
Nwankwo Kanu, the former Super Eagles captain, made much the same point in his own tribute, saying the Flamingos had inspired generations of young girls. Football often talks about role models in vague terms. Here it is a specific squad with a specific trophy, won in a specific final.
The Rabat setting
The setting adds to the story. The final was played on African soil, at a complex in Rabat, and the first African champions were crowned on the continent itself. Whatever else the tournament leaves behind, the image of Nigeria lifting the trophy there will last.
Nigeria have been called the giants of African women’s football for a long time. Now they have a world title to go with the name.
