NIGERIA’s participation at the 2026 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup has been thrown into uncertainty by visa delays, with Falconets captain Joy Igbokwe and other players reportedly at risk of missing the tournament, which runs from September 5 to 27 in Poland, The PUNCH reports.
News Point Nigeria Sport reports that the visa hitch forced the team to postpone their departure from last Thursday to Monday as the Nigeria Football Federation worked to resolve the issue, further raising concerns over the composition of the squad for the tournament.
However, Igbokwe was yet to secure a visa for Poland as of Monday and was not pictured among the 19 players and four officials head-counted in a photograph shared during the team’s departure for Poland.
Coach Monday Aduku is yet to name his final squad with less than two weeks to the start of the tournament.
After weeks of camping in Abuja, the Falconets were scheduled to continue their final preparations in Trzebnica, Poland, from Monday.
The situation has now cast doubt over the composition of the squad that will represent Nigeria at the tournament, with the visa difficulties coming at a critical stage of preparations.
The Falconets have featured at every edition of the competition since its inception in 2002 and are in Group F alongside Spain, New Caledonia and China.
Nigeria are two-time silver medallists, having finished runners-up in 2010 and 2014, while they also won bronze in 2012. They lost to Germany in both finals.
Nigeria, Brazil and the United States are the only three countries to have featured at every edition, following Germany’s failure to qualify for this year’s tournament.
The Falconets secured their place in Poland in May after a 3-2 aggregate victory over Malawi. They won the first leg 2-0 in Ikenne before losing the return fixture 2-1 in Lilongwe.
Nigeria are scheduled to begin their campaign against Spain on September 7 in Sosnowiec, Poland, making the resolution of the visa situation increasingly urgent as the team races against time to complete its preparations for the tournament.
