By Amaechi Agbo

Nigeria’s U-17 women’s national team the Flamingos will not be part of the first round of the 2026 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup qualifiers as the former bronze winners have been given a bye in the first round draw released by the Confederation of Africa Football, CAF on Saturday.

The draw for the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup Morocco 2026 African Qualifiers was held on Saturday in Rabat, marking the official kick-off of the African qualifying campaign.

The fixtures were determined by draw assistant Jacqueline Shipanga, Technical Director of the Namibia Football Federation, CAF Elite Instructor and former coach of the Namibia Women’s National Team.

A total of 31 African teams are involved in the qualifiers, played in three knockout rounds, with two-legged ties home and away. At the end of the third round, four teams will qualify for the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup Finals in Morocco.

The First Round matches will be played on 10-12 April and second leg on 17-19 April, 2026. Among the fixtures are: Niger vs Guinea, Burkina Faso vs Benin, Sierra Leone vs Core d’Ivoire, Tunisia vs Senegal, Algeria vs Cameroon, Togo vs Ghana, among others.

However, Nigeria will join the race in the second round where they will face the winner of the matches between Niger and Guinea.

The second round matches will hold between 22-24 May and 29-31 May, 2026.

Should the Flamingos progress beyond the second round, they will meet any of the following – Burkina Faso, Benin, Sierra Leone or Cote d’Ivoire – in the third round which starts from 3-5 through 10-12 July, 2026.