Nigeria’s Falconets have learned their quarter-final opponents at the 2026 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup, with Colombia standing between them and a place in the last four, Soccernet.ng reports.
The match is scheduled for Sunday, September 20, at 6:30pm Nigerian time (18:30 WAT) at the Stadion Miejski ŁKS in Łódź, Poland.
The Falconets booked their place in the last eight with a convincing 3-0 win over England on Thursday. Tosin Rafiu scored in the eighth minute, before Seimeyeha Janet Akekoromowei and Mary Mamudu added further goals after the break. Akekoromowei was also named Player of the Match.
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Nigeria had earlier lost 2-0 to Spain in their opening Group F game, drew 0-0 with China, then produced a huge 10-1 victory over New Caledonia to finish second in the group.
Colombia, meanwhile, reached the quarter-finals by eliminating hosts Poland 1-0 in the Round of 16. A late own goal from Poland’s Martyna Bartczak decided the match and sent Colombia into the final eight.
Falconets target another deep World Cup run
The Colombia tie gives Nigeria another chance to move closer to a fourth appearance in the U-20 Women’s World Cup semi-finals.
Nigeria are one of the tournament’s most experienced teams. They have appeared at every edition since the competition began in 2002 and have twice finished runners-up, in 2010 and 2014. They also reached the semi-finals in 2012.
Colombia have also shown that they can handle the latter stages. They reached the semi-finals in 2010 and finished fourth, while they made the quarter-finals in 2022 and 2024 before reaching the last eight again in Poland.
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Sunday’s meeting will be the first-ever Nigeria-Colombia match at the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup.
There is, however, history between the countries at U-17 level. Nigeria beat Colombia 3-0 in 2012 and 2-1 in 2014, but Colombia finally got the better of the Flamingos in the 2022 U-17 World Cup semi-final. That match finished 0-0 after 90 minutes before Colombia won 6-5 on penalties.
The winner in Łódź will advance to the semi-finals on September 23, where they will face either North Korea or Canada. The defending champions North Korea face Canada in the other quarter-final in Łódź.
In other quarterfinal pairings, South Korea will lock horns with Italy while Brazil face the ultimate test in unbeaten Spain.
