ABUJA, July 17 (Xinhua) -- Nigeria's Under-20 women's football team on Thursday opened a training camp in the capital, Abuja, ahead of the 2026 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup, scheduled to be held in Poland from Sept. 5 to 27.
In a statement, Ademola Olajire, spokesman for the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), said head coach Moses Aduku had invited 28 players to camp, with 16 already reporting. The remaining players are expected to arrive in the coming days.
According to the statement, the coaching staff has begun intensive training sessions to assess the players and fine-tune the squad ahead of the tournament.
Known as the Falconets, the Nigerian U-20 female team qualified for the World Cup after defeating Rwanda 5-0 on aggregate in the second qualifying round, Senegal 3-2 on aggregate in the penultimate round, and Malawi 3-2 on aggregate in the final qualifying round.
The latest qualification extends Nigeria's record as the only African nation to have qualified for every edition of the FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup since the tournament was introduced in 2002.
Nigeria is also one of the competition's most successful teams, having finished runner-up in 2010 and 2014, while reaching the semifinals in 2012.
The Falconets have been drawn in Group F, where they will face Spain, China and Paraguay. ■
