Flamencos beat Guinea in World Cup qualifiers

The Nigerian Flamingos achieved a resounding 5-0 victory against Guinea in the first leg of the second qualifying round of the FIFA U-17 World Cup 2026.

Harmony Chidi Hat-Trick Hero

A hat-trick from Harmony Chidi and goals from Oluwakemi Adegbuyi and Mary Dunstan secured the dominant victory for the Flamingos.

Chidi opened the scoring just one minute into the match before making it 2-0 in the 12th minute.

He then completed his hat trick and put the Flamingos ahead 3-0 in the 36th minute.

Just two minutes after Chidi scored his hat-trick, Adegbuyi scored the fourth goal before Dunstan added the fifth in the 56th minute.

The second leg will be played on Saturday, May 30, 2026 at the Remo Stars Stadium in Ikenne, Ogun State, Nigeria.

The winner of the home-and-away match between the Flemings and Guinea will advance to the third round (final round) of the World Cup qualifiers.

History of Flamencos in the U-17 World Cup

The Flamencos have been in all editions of the World Cup and only the 2018 edition is missing. ^{Before the 2022 edition, they had only reached the quarterfinals in the 2010, 2012 and 2014 editions respectively.}

They broke this “curse” in 2022 by defeating the United States in the quarterfinals on penalties after an entertaining and close duel during regulation time that ended 1-1.

Read also: Busari reflects on the privilege of Flemish leaders

Meanwhile, four teams from Africa will join automatically qualified host Morocco in the finals of the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup 2026 from October 17 to November 7.

This is the third FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup to be held in Africa and Morocco is the second Arab country to host it after Jordan in 2016.

Additionally, this is the second of five consecutive FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cups to be held in Morocco and to be played annually until 2029.

North Korea is the defending champion, having won a record fourth title in 2025.

24 teams will participate in the 2026 U-17 Women’s World Cup

A total of 24 teams will qualify for the final phase. In addition to Morocco, which automatically qualified as the host country, the other 23 teams qualified in six different continental competitions.

Argentina, Australia and Puerto Rico will make their debut, and Puerto Rico will participate in its first FIFA competition. Venezuela is classified for the first time since 2016.

By James Agberebi