2026 U-17 Women’s World Cup: Flamingos beat Japan to claim historic first title

Nigeria won the 2026 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup by beating Japan 2-1 in Saturday night’s final in Rabat. Awawu Bashiru opened the scoring in the 39th minute after Olubebe Umejiaku had struck the crossbar with a header, and Umejiaku made it 2-0 two minutes into the second half. Fuki Ito pulled one back for Japan in the 80th minute, but the Flamingos held on. Nigeria became the first African nation to win the title.