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Nigeria’s Flamingos forward, Oluebube Umejiaku, has revealed how the team turned their opening defeat to Poland into motivation to win the 2026 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup in Morocco.
The Flamingos began their campaign with a disappointing 2-1 loss to Poland, despite Umejiaku scoring after coming on as a substitute. However, the defeat became a turning point as the players resolved to approach every subsequent match as a final.
Nigeria recovered from the setback, defeating several opponents, including DPR Korea, Mexico and Brazil, before overcoming Japan 2-1 in Saturday’s final to lift the trophy.
Umejiaku emerged as one of the tournament’s outstanding performers after initially starting on the bench. She scored crucial goals, including in the final, and won the Golden Ball award as the competition’s best player.
Speaking to FIFA.com after Nigeria’s historic victory, the forward said the players challenged themselves to improve immediately after losing their opening match.
“When we lost the first game against Poland, everybody said we needed to wake up because we didn’t come here to look at anybody’s face and we have to take every game as a final. We don’t downgrade anything; we play and we put all our best into every game,” she said.
Umejiaku also spoke about her journey from a substitute to one of Nigeria’s most influential players at the tournament, revealing that she remained hopeful of earning a place in the starting line-up.
“Every time I went to training and every time I slept, I told God that I’m praying for all the people that are starting. But when I wanted to start, I just told God that it is my time,” she added.
Another major contributor to Nigeria’s triumph was Awawu Bashiru, whose impact increased significantly after receiving limited playing time during the early stages of the competition.
Bashiru played only 77 minutes between the opening match and the quarter-final against Venezuela before earning her first start against Brazil. She responded with two goals against Brazil and opened the scoring in the final against Japan.
The forward credited the team’s success to collective effort, discipline and their willingness to follow the technical crew’s instructions.
“I’m so happy, I’m so excited and I’m so grateful. The teamwork, instruction and listening to our coaches is why we got the goals and why we won the final. We are history-makers. We made Nigeria, and the millions of people there, proud,” Bashiru said.
Head coach Akeem Busari explained that his selection decisions were based on players’ character, attitude, commitment and performance rather than reputation.
“No matter how good you are, I’m a coach that plays on character. It’s all about mindset, attitude and merit; if they’re there, you get your playing time. If they’re not there, you’re waiting to come in. As a coach, we want everyone to wire up and play together,” he said.
Nigeria’s triumph made the country the first African nation to win the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup and the first from the continent to claim a FIFA women’s tournament title.
Umejiaku expressed confidence that the victory would open a new chapter for Nigerian and African women’s football, promising that the continent would build on the historic achievement.
“I’m very happy because now we have broken the chain. In Africa we always win – that’s a promise. We’ve won, and now we’ll be winning and winning, that’s just it. We thank God for everything,” she said.
Bashiru also promised that the Flamingos would maintain their winning mentality when they return for the next edition of the competition.
“We can expect more from Nigeria. We are winning and we’ll bring the same energy, the same zing, at the next U-17 Women’s [World Cup],” she added.
Busari described the victory as a significant boost for African football, saying it demonstrated the continent’s growing ability to compete with the world’s best at youth level.
“This is a turnaround for Africa. In terms of youth-age football, it’s improving and here we could really come and compete. Being a champion is going to go a long way to really motivate us, and we are sending a signal, a message to the world that Africa is really coming,” the coach said.
