Nigeria and Botswana will meet for the second time at the TotalEnergies CAF Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) when they clash in their second Group B match at the Larbi Zaouli Stadium in Casablanca on Thursday.
Their previous WAFCON encounter was also in the second group match of the 2022 edition. Nigeria won 2-0 thanks to goals from Ifeoma Onumonu (21′) and Christy Ucheibe (48′).
In that 2022 fixture, Nigeria came into the match having lost their opener to South Africa, while Botswana had started with a 4-2 win over Burundi. Nigeria went on to beat both Botswana and Burundi to finish second in the group behind South Africa. Botswana lost their final two group matches but progressed as one of the best third-placed teams.
In the 2022 meeting, Botswana had just 26.3% possession against Nigeria — their lowest share in any WAFCON match to date.
Past WAFCON Meeting:Group C – 7 July, 2022: Botswana 0 Nigeria 2 (Onumonu 21′, Ucheibe 48′)
Nigeria – Key Facts
- Began the 2024 tournament with a 3-0 win over Tunisia — their first opening-match win since 2016 (having lost in 2018 and 2022).
- Nigeria have now won their last three WAFCON group games, scoring nine goals without conceding.
- A win would mark Nigeria’s first back-to-back victories to start a tournament since 2014, when they beat Côte d’Ivoire 4-2 and Zambia 6-0.
- If they keep a clean sheet, it will be the first time Nigeria go unbreached in their opening two matches since 1998 (8-0 vs Morocco and 6-0 vs DR Congo).
- Nigeria’s record in second group matches at WAFCON: P12 W8 D3 L1. Their only defeat came in 2002 (0-1 vs Ghana).
- They have failed to win their second group game just three other times: 2-2 vs Cameroon (2004), 0-0 vs Tunisia (2008), 1-1 vs Ghana (2016).
- Nigeria have only twice failed to score in their second group match: the 2002 loss to Ghana and the 2008 draw with Cameroon.
- A win would be Nigeria’s 30th group stage victory in WAFCON history (P38 W29 D5 L3).
- Asisat Oshoala, who scored Nigeria’s opener against Tunisia, netted her 14th career WAFCON goal. She has now scored in four editions: 2014, 2016, 2018, and 2024.
- Nigeria had 24 goal attempts and 9 shots on target vs Tunisia — they faced no shots on target themselves.
- They completed 386 out of 465 attempted passes against Tunisia.
- Ashleigh Plumptre had a game-high 100 touches.
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Botswana – Key Facts
- Lost their opening game 1-0 against Algeria.
- Are currently on a four-match losing streak at the finals.
- Their last three defeats at the finals have all been by a one-goal margin (excluding repechage/play-off matches in 2022).
- Their last WAFCON win came against Burundi in their 2024 opener.
- They have never kept a clean sheet at the finals, conceding in every match played.
- This is only their second-ever second group match at WAFCON — the first was the 2-0 loss to Nigeria in 2022.
- Botswana have scored just one goal in their last four WAFCON matches – that came in their 2-1 quarterfinal loss to Morocco in 2022.
- Of Botswana’s five all-time WAFCON goals, four came in their 4-2 win over Burundi in 2022. The other came against Morocco in the quarterfinals.
- Goalkeeper Sedilame Boseja made six saves in the 1-0 defeat to Algeria – matching her tally from the 2022 loss to Nigeria.
- All three of Botswana’s shots on target against Algeria came in the second half.
