November 9 – Nigeria have become the first African nation to win a women’s FIFA tournament after beating Japan 2-1 in Rabat to lift the Under-17 Women’s World Cup.
The Flamingos completed a remarkable turnaround in Morocco, recovering from defeat to Poland in their opening game to win six games in a row and claim their first title at this level. It is also the first team to lose its first match and win the competition.
Awawu Bashiru put Nigeria ahead in the 39th minute of Saturday’s final before Oluebube Umejiaku doubled the lead shortly after the break, lifting a composed finish over Japan goalkeeper Kou Kadowaki.
Japan, who had been one of the most disciplined teams in the tournament throughout the tournament, pulled one back through Fuki Ito with ten minutes remaining, but Nigeria survived late pressure to see out the biggest result in the history of their women’s programme.
Umejiaku, who started the tournament on the bench, ended it with the Ballon d’Or after scoring four goals, including the winner in the final.
“I feel good, I feel very happy. I thank God for everything,” he said.
“It was very difficult for us, but the instructions from the coaches made us keep our heads up and take everything as it comes.”
Nigeria’s road to the trophy was difficult. After an opening 2-1 loss to Poland, they beat Puerto Rico before producing one of the highlights of the tournament, a 3-1 victory over defending champions Korea DPR that ended the Koreans’ long unbeaten run in the competition.
They then faced Mexico and Venezuela before beating Brazil 3-1 in the semi-final, with Bashiru scoring twice.
Japan coach Sadayoshi Shirai admitted that Nigeria’s pace and physicality proved difficult to contain.
“First of all, I must say that Nigeria was a very strong team,” he said. “We understood their strengths, but there were times when they managed to get behind our defense.”
The final itself was another first, marking the first time that an African and an Asian team had met in the final of a FIFA competition.
It also closed out a tournament that looked very different from the traditional balance of power in the women’s game. No European team reached the quarter-finals, while Korea DPR took bronze with a 6-0 win over Brazil.
Africa has produced male youth world champions before. She now has her first FIFA Women’s Champion.
Contact the writer of this story, Harry Ewing, at (email protected)
