When you think about football and calculations in the part of the world, one name comes to mind: the Super Eagles. Nigerians over the years have gotten used to calculating chances of qualification, the number of goals needed, and how the other teams in the group need to play for the Eagles to go through; we never really do that for the Super Falcons.
Image Credit: CAF Online
But the 2026 WAFCON turned into an induction ceremony into the football school of Mathematics for the Falcons. After losing the first game to Malawi and beating Zambia in the second game, the Super Falcons had destiny in their hands if they were to make it to the quarter-final; it was simple: BEAT EGYPT.
Beat Egypt sounds simple, right? But it wasn’t that alone they needed to beat Egypt convincingly, and look at what would happen between Malawi and Zambia.
A win for Nigeria takes them to 6 points; Malawi already had 6 points; a Zambia win would mean all 3 nations would be on 6 points.
Image Credit: CAF
Now this is where the calculation starts; we hope you have your calculators with you.
Nigeria beat Egypt 6-2, Zambia beat Malawi 2-1, but who goes to the quarter-final since all 3 have 6 points? What does the law say in the words of Timi Agbaje?
According to the 71.2 CAF tournament rules, when more than 2 teams are tied, the first tiebreaker is points.
Malawi, Nigeria and Zambia are on 3 points in their mini league.
Next up is Goal Difference.
Malawi scored 3 vs Nigeria, conceded 2; scored one and conceded 2 vs Zambia, that is 4-4=0.
Nigeria scored 2 against Malawi, conceded 3, then scored 1 against Zambia; that is 3-3=0.
Zambia scored 0 against Nigeria, conceded 1; conceded 1 against Malawi, scored 2. That is 2-2=0.
So with all teams tied at Goal Difference of 0,
The next tiebreaker is goals scored among the three teams
Malawi scored 3 against Nigeria and 1 against Zambia, for a total of 4.
Nigeria scored 2 against Malawi and 1 against Zambia, for a total of 3.
Zambia scored 0 against Nigeria and 2 against Malawi, that is 2.
So Malawi won the group on goals scored among the three teams, and Nigeria finished second; Zambia were knocked out.
Do you see how much we had to calculate?
Well, Nigeria take on Cameroon in the quarter-final on Sunday 9th of August. Come with a calculator.
