Paris 2024: Super Falcons may face familiar foes, Ghana, Cameroon in Qualifiers

Paris 2024: Super Falcons may face familiar foes, Ghana, Cameroon in Qualifiers
Super Falcons

The path to the Women's Olympic Football Tournament in Paris 2024 is now known and it is not a rosy one for Nigeria's Super Falcons who may face familiar foes, Ghana, Cameroon during the African qualifiers

The draw conducted in Cairo on Tuesday has set the stage for potential dramatic encounters as the Falcons strive to secure their place in the prestigious tournament.

Following a probable meeting with Ethiopia in the second round of the qualifiers scheduled for October this year, the Nigerian women's team will face off against the winner of the Uganda/Rwanda versus Cameroon ties.

Overcoming the Cameroonian hurdle will not be an easy task, considering the history between these two African powerhouses.

Cameroon has been a thorn in Nigeria's side in previous Olympic qualification campaigns. They infamously denied the Super Falcons a chance to participate in the London 2012 Olympics by triumphing over them in a two-leg encounter that went down to penalties in Yaounde.

Similarly, Equatorial Guinea halted Nigeria's quest for a spot in the Rio 2016 Olympics, and Cote d'Ivoire proved to be their stumbling block in the last Olympic Games held in Tokyo.

Nevertheless, the Super Falcons have a track record of thwarting the ambitions of the Indomitable Lionesses.

They have prevented Cameroon from reaching the FIFA World Cup on multiple occasions, including a victory over them in the quarter-finals of the Women's Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco last year, which denied the Lionesses a place in this year's finals in Australia and New Zealand.

Notably, the Falcons also emerged victorious over Cameroon in the final of the 2016 Women Africa Cup of Nations, right in front of their home crowd.

Ghana, another long-standing rival, has also found themselves at the mercy of Nigeria's Super Falcons. The Falcons denied Ghana's Black Maidens entry to the FIFA World Cup on several occasions and prevented them from participating in the Women's Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco last year.

The clash between these two West African powerhouses is always intense and closely contested.

As the Super Falcons embark on their journey towards the Paris 2024 Olympics, they will need to draw upon their experience and resilience to navigate the challenging qualifiers that lie ahead.