Wednesday September 9, 2026
www.thenewsdesk.ng
Former Super Eagles head coach, Augustine Eguavoen, has been appointed interim coach of Nigeria’s senior women’s national team, the Super Falcons, for their opening 2028 Olympic Games qualifying ties against Comoros next month.
Eguavoen, popularly known as ‘Cerezo’, will take charge as the Nigeria Football Federation continues its search for a substantive head coach for the 10-time African champions.
The experienced coach previously led the Super Eagles to a bronze medal at the 2006 Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt and has managed Nigeria at the highest level.
He will be assisted by Christopher Danjuma, head coach of Nigeria Women’s Football League side Nasarawa Amazons.
Danjuma has extensive experience with the country’s women’s national teams and led the Falconets at the 2024 FIFA Under-20 Women’s World Cup in Costa Rica.
Former Super Eagles goalkeeper trainer Olatunji Baruwa has also been named as goalkeeper trainer. He has worked with several of Nigeria’s national teams, including the Super Eagles, CHAN Eagles, Flying Eagles and Golden Eaglets.
Former Super Falcons defender Ayisat Yusuf completes the interim coaching team as an assistant coach.
Yusuf won 68 international caps for Nigeria and represented the country at four Women’s Africa Cup of Nations tournaments, three FIFA Women’s World Cups and the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.
The Super Falcons will begin their Olympic qualifying campaign in the second round against Comoros, with both legs to be played at the Remo Stars Stadium in Ikenne – Remo.
Nigeria will host the first leg on October, 9 before the return fixture at the same venue on October 13 .
The Super Falcons were handed a bye into the second round as one of the three highest-ranked teams in the qualifying competition. Comoros progressed after thrashing Sudan 30-0 on aggregate.
Nigeria must negotiate four rounds of two-legged knockout ties to claim one of Africa’s two qualification places for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games.
Victory over Comoros would send the Super Falcons into the third round, where they will face either the Democratic Republic of Congo or Morocco between February 23 and March 6, 2027.
Should Nigeria progress to the fourth round, they will meet one of Tunisia, Senegal, Benin Republic or Mali between October 4 and 12, 2027.
The final round is scheduled for November 23 to December 4 ,2027, with Nigeria potentially facing Guinea, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Central African Republic, Algeria or Burkina Faso for a place at the Olympics.
(TheHOPE)
