Nigeria’s U-17 head coach, Manu Garba, has criticized the Confederation of African Football (CAF) for limiting the WAFU B zone to only two qualification slots for the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON). His comments came after the Golden Eaglets lost 2-0 to Ghana in the semi-finals of the regional qualifiers in Ivory Coast. A defeat that ended their hopes of reaching the 2026 U-17 AFCON and, by extension, the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
The result marks Nigeria’s second consecutive failure at this stage. In 2024, the team also missed out on the AFCON and the 2025 World Cup after failing to progress from the regional qualifiers.
Garba, who guided Nigeria to U-17 World Cup glory in 2013, believes CAF’s slot allocation is unfair to WAFU B, which houses some of the strongest youth teams in Africa.
“When the WAFU B competition began, only one team qualified. I raised concerns, and that was why it was increased to two slots. But I still insist it is not enough. Nigeria remains the most successful nation at U-17 level globally, so how can CAF give us just two?” Garba questioned.
He argued that WAFU B deserves at least three slots, citing Nigeria’s dominance in youth football with five U-17 World Cup titles (1985, 1993, 2007, 2013, 2015). The coach recalled that on previous occasions, CAF awarded an additional slot to WAFU A instead of WAFU B, a move he described as unjust.
Currently, Ghana and Ivory Coast have secured the two WAFU B slots for the 2026 U-17 AFCON. CAF’s distribution gives WAFU A (8 nations) three slots, while WAFU B (7 nations) gets only two, despite its competitive depth. Garba insists this imbalance undermines Africa’s representation on the global stage.
