Nigeria U17 women’s national team, the Flamingos, edged Benin 3-2 in the first leg of the final round of the 2026 FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup qualifiers at the Remo Stars Stadium in Ikenne on Saturday, www.aclsports.com reports.
Goals from Queen Joseph, Oluwakemi Adegbuyi and Kindness Ifeanyi handed the Flamingos a slender first-leg advantage ahead of the return fixture in Benin.
The visitors stunned the home side with an early breakthrough in the 14th minute when Romaine Gandonou found the back of the net to put Benin in front.
Nigeria responded positively and restored parity in the 25th minute through Queen Joseph, ensuring the Flamingos went into the halftime break level after an entertaining opening 45 minutes.
Coach Akeem Busari’s side returned strongly after the restart and took the lead for the first time in the 62nd minute when Oluwakemi Adegbuyi finished calmly to make it 2-1.
Benin, however, refused to back down and found another equaliser in the 73rd minute through Nazifatou Dangui, setting up a tense finish.
The Flamingos restored their advantage almost immediately as Kindness Ifeanyi struck two minutes later, scoring what proved to be the winner as Nigeria held on to claim a narrow but valuable first-leg victory.
The second leg will be played in Benin next weekend, with the aggregate winners securing qualification for the 2026 FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup in Morocco.
