Nigeria's Super Falcons will face reigning Olympic champions Canada in a friendly on July 17 in Seville, Spain.
The match marks a key step in Nigeria's preparations for the 2024 Paris Olympics, where the country aims to make a major impact. Having qualified for the Olympics with a 1-0 aggregate win over South Africa in April, the Super Falcons will be looking to measure their progress against the higher-level competition.
The friendly will be the second time Nigeria and Canada have faced each other on Spanish soil. Their last meeting in 2019 before the 2019 Women's World Cup in France ended in a 2-1 defeat for Nigeria, despite a strong performance from Desire Oparanoji. The two teams recently faced off at the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, ending in a scoreless draw in Brisbane.
As reported by The Nation, head coach Randy Waldrum, who recently announced the Super Falcons roster for Paris 2024, shared some insight into the team's preparation plans. "We're leaving for Spain on Thursday. We'll be camping for around 10 days.
Waldrum revealed this in an interview on the Tinman Podcast. We'll play a friendly against Canada on July 17th and then travel to Bordeaux the next day, July 18th, to prepare for our opening match on July 25th. This is an opportunity to take a few days to build up the team for the tournament. The training camp in Spain will be really important for us.
The Super Falcons will open their Olympic campaign against Brazil at Stade Bordeaux on July 25th, followed by matches against Spain on July 28th and Japan in Nantes on July 31st.