Nigeria and Zambia will renew their rivalry at the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations when they meet in their second group match, with both teams coming off contrasting opening results.
The Super Falcons suffered a shock 3-2 defeat to tournament debutants Malawi on matchday one, while Zambia began their campaign in devastating fashion with a 6-0 thrashing of Egypt.
It will be the fifth meeting between the two sides at the WAFCON finals and their third encounter in the group stage. They are facing each other for a third successive edition of the tournament.
Nigeria have dominated the previous four meetings, winning three times, with Zambia claiming just one victory. Their first two encounters, both group matches in 2014 and 2018, ended in comprehensive wins for Nigeria by margins of 6-0 and 4-0 respectively.
Zambia finally broke Nigeria’s hold in 2022 when they secured a 1-0 victory in the third-place play-off. However, Nigeria gained swift revenge at the last edition, thrashing Zambia 5-0 in the quarter-finals.
That most recent meeting was effectively over by half-time, with Nigeria leading 3-0 through goals from Osinachi Ohale in the second minute, Esther Okoronkwo in the 33rd and Chinwendu Ihezuo on the stroke of half-time. Oluwatosin Demehin added a fourth in the 68th minute before Folashade Ijamilusi completed the scoring deep into stoppage time.
Across their four WAFCON encounters, Nigeria have outscored Zambia by an overwhelming 15 goals to one. Remarkably, no Zambian player has ever scored against Nigeria in this competition. Their only goal in the fixture came in the 2022 third-place play-off and was an own goal by Nigeria goalkeeper Chiamaka Nnadozie, after Evarine Katongo’s initial effort had struck the upright.
In a curious statistic, only the winning team has scored in each of their previous four meetings, with neither side ever managing to get on the scoresheet in defeat.
