Nigeria women’s national under-20 football team will discover their group stage opponents on Friday as the draw ceremony for the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup takes place at the EC1 Cultural Centre in Łódź, Poland.
The draw, scheduled for 4:00 p.m. local time, will feature representatives from the 24 nations qualified for the tournament, with Nigeria placed among the seeded teams in Pot 2 following a successful qualification campaign.
The Falconets secured their place at the global tournament after edging Malawi 3-2 on aggregate in the final round of qualifiers, continuing Nigeria’s record of qualifying for every edition of the competition since its inception in 2002.
Tournament organizers grouped the qualified nations into four pots of six teams each based on performances across the last five editions of the competition. Hosts Poland headline Pot 1 alongside reigning champions North Korea and other traditional powerhouses including Spain, Japan, Brazil and France.
Nigeria shares Pot 2 with teams such as the United States, Colombia, Mexico and New Zealand.
The draw regulations are expected to ensure that teams from the same confederation are separated into different groups wherever possible.
Led by coach Moses Aduku, the Falconets will head into the tournament hoping to finally capture their first world title after twice finishing as runners-up in 2010 and 2014.
Team officials, including administrator Kelechi Omeke, are expected to represent Nigeria during the ceremony, which will be streamed live globally on FIFA’s digital platforms.
The 2026 edition of the tournament will run from September 5 to September 27 across four Polish cities Łódź, Bielsko-Biała, Katowice and Sosnowiec with Łódź hosting both the opening match and the final.
This year’s competition also marks a historic expansion, with several nations making their debut appearances, including Portugal, Benin and Tanzania.
In a major surprise, three-time champions Germany failed to qualify for the tournament for the first time, a development that many analysts believe could open the competition further for title contenders such as Nigeria.
