.svg.png){kind=logo}
Head coach Hakeem Busari has invited 26 players to the camp of Nigeria’s U-17 women’s national team, the Flamingos, as preparations begin for the 2026 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup in Morocco.
The tournament is scheduled to take place from October 17 to November 7.
The Flamingos secured their place at the global showpiece after defeating Benin Republic home and away in the final round of the African qualifiers.
Nigeria have been regular participants in the competition since its inaugural edition in New Zealand in 2008, missing out only on the 2018 tournament in Uruguay.
Read Also:U-17 WWCQ: Busari Confident Flamingos Will Overcome Benin Challenge
All 26 invited players have been directed to report to the Serob Legacy Hotel, Wuye, Abuja, on Sunday, August 30, 2026, for the first phase of the team’s final preparations.
Full List Of Invited Players
Goalkeepers: Ifesinachi Iloh (Solo Wonders); Mercy Felix (Obosa FA); Precious John (Pelican Stars)
Defenders: Elizabeth Adesuyi (Pacesetter Queens); Esther Stephen (Unification Ladies); Chidera Oparanmegwa (Bayelsa Queens); Azeezat Oduntan (Robo Queens); Opeyemi Sunday (Nasarawa Amazons); Omelogu Precious (Tophat SC); Christiana Ogunbunmi (Soccer Talent FC); Taiwo Abdulazeez (Dannaz Ladies)
Midfielders: Kaosarat Akanji (Dreamstar Ladies); Awawu Bashiru (Confluence Queens); Mary Dustan (Bayelsa Queens); Muinat Rotimi (Nakamura FA); Kate Laniran (Espora Queens); Annabelle Olubajo (Savannah United); Grace Akingboye (Ghetto Tigers); Eniola Abdulquadri (Unstoppable FA)
Forwards: Adebimpe Kashimawo (Asisat Oshoala FA); Harmony Chidi (Bayelsa Queens); Mmesoma Uchendu (Ibom Angels); Istifanus Shavi (Youth Arise FA); Shakirat Sarafa (Remo Stars Ladies); Chisom Chukwuemeka (Diamond Stars)
16 Comments
Chidi Harmony has an opportunity to shine in this tournament. Many of us have earmarked her to take over the touch of greatness, glamour and shine from the ever-green Asisat Oshoala in seasons to come.
I would even ween that Harmony is the most technically gifted tactically grounded centre forward this country would ever see. What is left is for her to ‘keep her on the swivel’ to not be easily distracted or derailed and never allow herself to be ‘caught lacking’ in front of goal or in practice sessions that sharpen her skills.
The rest of this squad look like highly capable assemblage of supremely determined ensemble, ‘all-told’. I think those who will be whittled down to represent Nigeria in the tournament will do so with pride, focus, determination. Those left behind will announce themselves big in future national team squads.
Good luck to Coach Busari and the Girls.
The title of the write-up above is:
“”Will Chidi Harmony and The Flamingos Mount Mightily in Morocco?””
The list is dominated by players from the South West and a few Igbos, what about other regions especially the South-South?In fact the entire midfield is from the South-West wow!I hope they are the best we got otherwise we are shooting ourselves in the foot.
I remember the former coach was doing the same,that is why I would prefer coaches who aren’t from the major tribes,they seem to be merit-driven..
You have said it all. Lately this is all we see in our nation. We know the tribe that are more efficient in carrying out battles in war front but we end up with the tribes that should be complimentary. My love for Nigeria is not deep if I must be honest because of this tribalism appointments in almost all sectors. How then do we succeed?
@Greenurf, I understand your concern, bro, and to be fair, it is not unreasonable to ask whether a national youth team truly represents the best talent available across Nigeria. But I think there is a deeper structural problem here that we must separate from outright tribalism.
The NFF has, for years, failed to provide many of our age-grade coaches with the resources required to properly scout the entire country. There was a time when youth national-team coaches and scouts could travel extensively, watching school competitions, academies, grassroots tournaments and clubs from one geopolitical zone to another. Today, many coaches simply do not have that luxury. No proper nationwide scouting budget, no functional scouting network and, in some cases, not even enough resources for sustained monitoring.
So what happens? A coach naturally ends up relying heavily on players within his immediate geographical reach or players recommended by friends, former colleagues, academies and associates he already knows. It is not necessarily because he wakes up and says, Today, let me select only people from my tribe. Sometimes, unfortunately, those are simply the players he has had the opportunity to watch repeatedly.
There is also a very important development in women’s football that cannot be ignored. The Ogun–Lagos axis currently has a growing concentration of female football academies and development programmes. If a significant number of active academies, clubs and organised youth competitions are concentrated in one region, it should not surprise us if that region produces a disproportionately large number of players available for selection. Football talent is everywhere, but exposure is not everywhere.
That, to me, is where the real argument should be directed: why doesn’t the NFF create a scouting structure capable of finding the equally talented girls in the South-South, South-East, North-Central, North-East and North-West? Nigeria is too large and too blessed for our youth national teams to depend largely on whichever players happen to be within driving distance of the coach.
But I would personally be careful about immediately interpreting the current Flamingoes’ composition as tribalism. Olowookere himself has previously taken a Yoruba-dominated Flamingoes side to win a bronze medal for Nigeria at the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup. That achievement did not suddenly become less valuable because of the ethnic distribution of the players. If anything, it demonstrates that ethnicity should never be the primary yardstick; quality, preparation and performance should be.
So, yes, we should demand a more geographically inclusive scouting process, not because we need to distribute national-team shirts according to federal character, but because Nigeria is full of talent and limiting recruitment to a few geographical corridors means we may be leaving exceptional players undiscovered.
The problem, therefore, may not necessarily be that Busari is selecting Yoruba players because they are Yoruba. The bigger question is whether the NFF has created an environment where he can genuinely discover the best players from everywhere else.
And knowing the NFF, asking a coach to find players nationwide without giving him the resources to travel nationwide is very much their kind of football development strategy. Those are so funny.
A huge thank you @Papafem
Great Points @PapaFem majority of your points are valid and it highlights why better talents from other regions are not given look in to the detriment of national success.
I also want to point out that the Coach Busari does not deserve this appointment, because his CV with pacesetters does not have major achievements.
I wonder why coaches who have dominated the top female league divisions are never appointed. Is there something wrong with those coaches that explains their snubbing and same can be said of former BLFA coach that was never given the Boys national u17 job. Despite winning several local and European tournaments with BLFA.
NFF has a questionable history of appointing incompetent coaches like Bosso and co just because they had a stint in lower neighborhing Benin Republic which is also called international job. Lol Naija sha what is the fear of appointing genuine candidates?
I hope you will not write a long love letter wen the table turn around. The problem will have in this is encouraging what is not right, and don’t forget tribal selection and inclusion start from one day. Tomorrow, if an Urhobo man is the present of Nigeria, and I am given opportunity to coach any of the under-age, I can just select players from Ughelli, Agbarho, Warri, Sapele, Enugu, Benin because this is were my radar can capture?
So because a former coach won third in a previous under age soccer wit mostly one tribe it is has now become a past mark? at this stage, there are tings we should not be supporting even if some result comes good, because the end of it is destruction
@Greentuf, you are one of Nigeria problem. What matters is for the coach to select the best legs. Where they come from does not matter. Even if all of them are from the same family. What matters now is team that will make Nigeria proud..
When someone says the truth the likes of you probably from Yoruba extraction will be the first to attack their post.
Can’t you learn to communicate with wisdom like @Papafem by choosing thoughtful words and offering clear insights,rather than jumping to conclusion to defend a coach likely from your tribe with that bigoted mindset..
I have a right to speak out if same pattern continues in teams selection.Because it won’t be a coincedence if two Yoruba under 17 female coaches took our team to 4 tournaments with players largely concentrated from their region,I wouldn’t ask questions when the coaches are foreign or from a different region selecting players mostly from another region.
A country like Nigeria where people are very sectional,especially those from the major tribes,It’s hard to trust their judgement.The likes of me will stand up and speak up against injustice and discrimination!Olowokere was sacked because his last two world cup tournaments was a disappointment.He travelled with a great numbers of Yoruba players,I don’t have a problem if they are the best at the time,but when a team keep failing you are bound to ask questions,I could be wrong but it is best to speak out.
The northern coaches does the same.The truth is selecting your team based on tribe and religion will have negative consequences on the team in the long run.We all know our country aren’t merit-driven and people are so much attached to their region even in political appointments,let’s not pretend this things don’t happen in Nigeria.
Coaches have a duty to be fair.They build stronger teams and a better society when they choose players based on talent alone.
Teams choosen by tribe often lose because they do not have the best players on the field.Fans like me and even players feel hurt and angry when selection is unfair,because quality players get left behind because of their background.
People who speak out aren’t Nigeria’s problem.Rather they are the solution.I don’t hate any tribe I am a Nigerian and love my country and the people,the passion is the reason I always demand for justice,good governance! Expecting good governance is a powerful expression of civic duty and patriotism!
and the best legs are from Yoruba alone? clap for yourself. Why wouldn’t we be in the situation we found ourselves, we now glory laziness, and condemn those who try to speak the truth.
one thing I know for such is government is a transient, it doesn’t last forever, enjoy it when it last
If you don’t pick that Kemi Adegbuye and Folirunsho from Edo Queens, then your team is doubtful. Unless they have passed the age.
If any of the U-20 girls who missed the World Cup due to visa issues are still eligible for the U-17 age category, Busari should seriously consider bringing them into the Flamingos setup. Losing a World Cup opportunity to administrative failures should not mean losing another opportunity when their age and talent still qualify them. Those girls are the last victims of Gusau’s mal-adminitration. Quite unfortunate!
I thought it is ok to select from a specific tribe just to get result is ok? we never won repent for this country. it is true that the leaders are corrupt because the people they are leading are more corrupt.
Hahahaha! I guess @Douglas John Ufuoma is now nursing a personal beef against me o. Mama, wetin I do you? Did you even read my comment before coming for my neck? Smiles..
Let me make this very clear: I have never supported tribal selection, and nothing in my comment was asking anyone to close their eyes and applaud Coach Busari’s seemingly lopsided squad selection as @Greenturf rightly observed. That coach may well have biases in his recruitment. And let’s not deceive ourselves; many indigenous coaches, particularly those from the major ethnic groups, historically do.
But fairness also demands that we examine the entire ecosystem before placing every ethnic imbalance on the coach’s doorstep.
Are we expecting a coach who is being owed six months’ salary and ten-match bonuses to suddenly become NFF’s national chief scout, travelling through all 36 states and the FCT with his personal money simply to ensure that his squad has the perfect ethnic balance? Nigeria will owe you salaries, owe you bonuses, give you no scouting budget, no nationwide recruitment structure and still expect you to discover a left-footed winger in Sokoto and a defensive midfielder in Calabar by observing both players live. Na magic?
Have you even seen the NFF organise properly structured, nationwide open camps for our female age-grade teams the way they occasionally do for the male teams? In many cases, we do not even know the full process through which these players emerged. Coaches largely depend on the players available within their reach, recommendations from people within their grassroots networks, academies and clubs, and the familiar Nigerian scouting formula: “Coach, I know one girl wey sabi ball for my side. Make she come?” We often see names dropping from everywhere, and the coach works with the pool available to him. That, for me, is the bigger problem, dear.
Why doesn’t the NFF have a standard, transparent and properly funded nationwide recruitment process for every age-grade national team? Why is there no functioning talent pipeline cutting across the six geopolitical zones? Why should the quality of access to a national team depend so heavily on whether a player happens to live near an academy known to the coach, or even average players being forced on coaches by NFF officials, politicians or agents with deep pockets?
The truth is that many Nigerian national-team coaches are doing work that the NFF itself should have institutionalised long ago. The coach is supposed to select from a properly scouted and continuously updated talent pool, not become a scout, transport officer, academy liaison officer, financier and national recruitment agency all rolled into one.
So yes, let’s scrutinise Busari. Let’s ask whether his selections are merit-based. But let’s also understand that a weak system naturally produces suspicious outcomes. And once the process is opaque, every lopsided squad list begins to smell tribal, even when the underlying problem may simply be a recruitment system that barely exists. That is what we should be screaming about.
Because, gradually, we are beginning to attack one another over the symptoms while the disease itself is sitting comfortably in the Glass House. The same dysfunctional system that fails to scout Nigeria properly is the system creating the conditions for accusations of tribalism, favouritism, connections and regional domination.
And please, let’s not allow this forum to gradually become another Phoenix or X, where every discussion eventually ends with tribe, religion and politics entering the pitch before the referee even blows the whistle. I honestly will not be drawn into any tribal war here. That is not why I come to CSN. We are here because we love Nigerian football, even when Nigerian football behaves like a stubborn child determined to test our blood pressure.
If the system producing our national teams were clean, transparent and merit-driven, most people wouldn’t care about the ethnic composition of the final squad.
Look at Nigerian basketball. At different periods, the national teams have been heavily populated by players of Igbo extraction, with many of them born and raised in the US. Has anyone convened an emergency constitutional conference over it? No. If they are the best available players, play them.
Look at table tennis, where players from the South-West have historically dominated Nigeria’s national setup. Again, nobody is calculating geopolitical quotas before Aruna Quadri serves the ball. The assumption is simple: if they are good enough, they should play. That is the standard we should be demanding everywhere.
So, @Douglas John Ufuoma, my argument is not that Busari must be innocent. My argument is that we should investigate the process before sentencing the man. If evidence shows that better players were ignored because of ethnicity, then by all means, expose it and call him out. But if the imbalance is partly the consequence of a recruitment system that gives coaches access only to players within their geographical and professional networks, then our anger should not stop at the coach. It should travel all the way to the institution that created that mess.
Let’s debate hard. Let’s disagree strongly. Let’s counter arguments with better arguments. But let’s not reduce every disagreement to personal attacks or tribal warfare.
After all, if we continue like this, one day somebody will score an own goal for Nigeria and instead of analysing the defender’s positioning, we will first ask which geopolitical zone his grandmother came from. Na there we dey go.
my boss I am a male, in Urhobo, there are no gender base name. That being said, when you come to the national team, the best can be from anywhere because their games speak for them. If for instance we have five players from north playing for Real Madrid, another three playing for bayer, nobody will cry foul because their performance speak for them.
We have done same mistake again, again, and again. where are the Osanes we dropped future players for? the Musa Muhammed, Yahaya Bello, Stanly okoro and others that make us to lose Alaba, Olise and others? we don’t earn from our past mistakes. NFF don’t prove the environment doesn’t mean the coach should pan for the future. how many employees in Nigeria are provided with all the proper working tools to excel. the coach knows of the challenges before coming on board. look at the national team coach for instance, then compare him with our so called coaches outside Stephen Keshi and Shahibu Amodu of blessed memory, then you spot the difference.
You don’t just sit in one place and blame the system which you know was never functioning before your appointment for your failure. The reason why the foreign coaches are far better than the locals. it took a foreign coach to unearth and bring in alot of foreign based players to our senior team which the past coach just created unwanted record.
coming to the basketball female team, can you name any five players you think that can replace anybody in that team and performance better? please remind me who the five straight champion of female basketball in Africa? who have ever broken the record of this girls?
the goal of every under-age team is to provide a continuity for the senior team, which of the past girls can you pick to replace anybody in the current super falcon without causing problem?
My boss, if you cannot bear the heat of the kitchen, don’t enter at first. look at England, Spain, ordinary Malawi, Zambia, who were these countries in the past? is not a shame that if the system, the never die Nigeria spirit is already dying. When has NFF ever give special concern to under age, not to go and pack over age players? when, but others do their work and still leave a blueprint. But it go to a particular region turn, they turned it to family package and some persons are clapping for it and blaming same that have never helped the ones or provide anything before in the past.