Canada confirm two Nigeria friendlies in April

The African champions will test their might against the Olympic gold medalist in what promises to be two well-contested duels in North America

Nigeria’s Super Falcons will face the Canadian women national team twice next month in games designed to celebrate the North American ladies’ triumph at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo last August.

The team ranked sixth in the world powered to their first-ever gold medal in the Summer Olympics football tournament by beating Sweden 3–2 in the penalty shoot-out after both teams drew 1–1 after extra time in the final.

Nigeria have agreed to join in the Canadians’ celebratory tour, with both sides scheduled to face-off in a two-match series. The first game will take place on April 8 in Vancouver, while the second match will be played three days later, on April 11, at the Starlight Stadium in Langford.

Confirming the international friendlies, Canada’s head coach Beverly Priestman expressed her delight at facing the most successful African women’s national team.

“I was over the moon to get Nigeria over the line,” Priestman told the CBC.

“We haven’t got a lot of experience against African nations so for me, playing Nigeria, we haven’t played them a lot, but we know they’re an unbelievable team, and it’ll be a great experience for us to keep pushing forward on our new journey.”

Nigeria and Canada have previously faced each other three times with honours evenly shared after a win, a draw, and a loss.

The first meeting between the two continental giants saw the Super Falcons come from a two-goal deficit to seal a pulsating 3-3 draw at the 1995 Women World Cup in Sweden.

Perpetual Nkwocha’s 84th-minute strike handed Nigeria a 1-0 win over the North Americans at the 2011 World Cup in their second clash.

Canada then exacted their revenge in 2019 during a friendly, claiming a 2-1 victory over the reigning African champions.

No 41 ranked Nigeria only last month defeated Côte d’Ivoire over two legs to book their place in this July’s Africa Women Cup of Nations, where they will look to defend the title they won in 2018.

American gaffer Randy Waldrum is currently coaching the record-making continental queens.