Golden Eaglets Disgrace Nation Again: Nigeria Misses Another U-17 World Cup After Ghana Defeat

The Golden Eaglets of Nigeria, five-time FIFA U-17 World Cup champions, have been kicked out of the WAFU-B U17 Championship after a shameful 0-2 defeat to arch-rivals Ghana’s Black Starlets in Abidjan on Tuesday night, ending yet another qualification dream.

This semi-final loss means Nigeria will not play at the 2026 Africa U-17 Cup of Nations, the only route to the next U-17 World Cup, condemning the once-feared Golden Eaglets to another cycle of failure.

For the second consecutive time, Nigeria will be absent from the world stage, despite holding the record as the most successful nation in the tournament’s history.

The collapse is especially painful given the Eaglets’ strong group-stage form — four goals scored, one conceded, group leaders with confidence — only to falter when it mattered most. Ghana, who barely scraped through their group with shaky performances, turned up in the semi-final and sent Nigeria packing.

The humiliation is worsened by history: Nigeria had beaten Ghana 4-2 in the 2022 edition in Cape Coast, and again 3-2 in the bronze medal clash in Accra. This time, the Black Starlets flipped the script and buried Nigerian hopes.

The price of failure:

No WAFU-B trophy chase.

No 2026 AFCON U-17 spot.

No FIFA U-17 World Cup qualification.

The Golden Eaglets last played at the U-17 World Cup in 2019 (Brazil), where they reached the Round of 16 before bowing out. They missed the 2017 and 2023 editions, while the 2021 tournament was cancelled due to the pandemic. Now, Nigeria’s absence will stretch into 2025 in Qatar, deepening the crisis.

From Victor Osimhen’s record-breaking 10 goals in 2015 to this generation’s inability to even qualify, the decline is glaring. For a country that once ruled youth football, the Golden Eaglets have become a shadow of their former selves — and Nigerians have every right to be angry.