Ex-Super Eagles star offers fixes following Super Falcons World Cup failure – “This can’t continue”

Nigeria’s football crisis has reached another worrying point after the Super Falcons failed to qualify for the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup, continuing a difficult period for the country’s national teams, Soccernet.ng reports.

The Super Falcons suffered a 2-1 defeat to South Africa in their decisive World Cup play-off in Casablanca, ending Nigeria’s hopes of featuring at the tournament in Brazil. It was a painful outcome for Africa's most successful national team.

The setback also came after the Super Eagles failed to qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, with Nigeria losing to DR Congo on penalties in the African play-off final after a 1-1 draw. It was the first time since their debut appearance in 1994 that the Super Eagles had missed consecutive World Cups.

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Nigeria’s problems extend beyond the senior teams, with the Flying Eagles also missing out on the 2027 U-20 Africa Cup of Nations and, consequently, the U-20 World Cup after a devastating 4-1 defeat to Burkina Faso in the final of the WAFU Zone B U-20 Championship

Former Super Eagles defender Ben Iroha believes the string of failures should force Nigerian football authorities into serious reflection, warning that the current trend cannot be allowed to continue.

Iroha reacts to Super Falcons, Super Eagles failures

Speaking in an interview with Complete Sports, Iroha expressed his frustration at Nigeria’s recent setbacks and questioned how the country has allowed its football fortunes to deteriorate despite its abundance of talent.

“As if that was not enough heartbreak, the Super Falcons lost the opportunity to qualify for the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup to be held in Brazil,” the ex-Watford left-back lamented.

“Apart from the defeat to Cameroon in the quarter-final, the Super Falcons failed again to beat South Africa in a World Cup play-off that could have given us a glimmer of hope of going to the Women’s World Cup.

“The Flying Eagles’ case was also pathetic. How could they have lost to Burkina Faso at such a crucial stage and by such embarrassing scorelines?”

The former defender's concerns underline how Nigeria’s recent struggles have cut across different age groups and both the men’s and women’s senior teams, including the domestic leagues.

Ben Iroha demands introspection

For Iroha, the issue goes beyond individual defeats. The 1994 AFCON winner believes Nigeria must examine the systems behind its national teams rather than treating each failure as an isolated incident.

“I can’t believe this, frankly speaking. It’s heartbreaking. The Super Eagles didn’t go to the 2026 World Cup even when they had the play-off opportunity to do so.

“Now, the Super Falcons aren’t going to the World Cup even when the play-off presented a last-minute opportunity.

“Nigerians painfully watched the 2026 World Cup on television. We’re going to watch the Women’s World Cup, U-20 World Cup and even the U-17 World Cup from the comfort of our living rooms. I can’t believe this is happening to Nigeria, despite our huge talents,” he bemoaned

The Super Eagles' failure was particularly avoidable given that Nigeria had entered the African play-offs after missing out on automatic qualification. They subsequently defeated Gabon before their campaign ended against DR Congo.

‘This trend can’t continue’ — Iroha offers way forward

Iroha believes the first step towards fixing Nigerian football is accepting that something has gone wrong and honestly identifying where the problems lie.

Asked about the way forward, the former Golden Eaglets assistant coach called for serious introspection from those responsible for the development and administration of the game.

“We need to sit down and find out what has gone wrong; where we’ve got it wrong; what we’ve not done that we should do. This is the first step. This trend can’t continue,” Iroha concluded.

His comments come at a crucial moment for Nigerian football. With the senior men's and women's teams both missing their respective World Cups and the country's youth teams also facing qualification setbacks, the issue is no longer simply about one bad result or one failed campaign.

1/4 🚨 The Nigeria Football Federation has set up a fact-finding committee to investigate the country’s poor run in international competitions, with particular focus on the Super Falcons’ failure to qualify for the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup.

— The NFF 🇳🇬 (@thenff) August 14, 2026

For a country blessed with a deep pool of football talent, Iroha's call for introspection raises a bigger question, and it appears the NFF are keen on resolving that after setting up a panel to investigate the reasons behind Nigeria's failure on the global stage. Only time will tell whether that approach will yield any fruit.