Augustine Eguavoen has been appointed interim Super Falcons coach for Nigeria’s 2028 Olympic qualifiers against Comoros in October.
Augustine Eguavoen has been appointed interim head coach of the Super Falcons, Nigeria’s senior women’s national football team.
The former Super Eagles head coach will lead the Falcons for their 2028 Olympic Games double-legged qualifier against Comoros in October, the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) announced in a statement on Tuesday, while its search for a substantive head coach continues.
“Former Super Eagles head coach Augustine Eguavoen will lead Nigeria’s Senior Women’s National Team, the Super Falcons, on an interim basis for their 2028 Olympic Games qualifying fixtures against Comoros in October, as the search for a substantive head coach for the team continues,” the NFF said.
A New Assignment for a Familiar Face
Popularly known as “Cerezo,” Eguavoen brings considerable international coaching experience to the role, having previously guided the Super Eagles to a bronze-medal finish at the 2006 Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt and taken interim charge of the men’s national team on more than one occasion. However, the Super Falcons job marks his first assignment working with a women’s national team in his managerial career.
He will be assisted by Christopher Danjuma, head coach of Nasarawa Amazons in the Nigeria Women’s Football League, who has previous experience with Nigeria’s women’s national teams, including leading the Falconets at the 2024 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup in Costa Rica. The rest of the technical team includes Olatunji Baruwa, a former Super Eagles goalkeeper trainer who has worked across several national teams, and Ayisat Yusuf, a former Super Falcons defender with 68 international caps who represented Nigeria at four Women’s Africa Cup of Nations tournaments, three FIFA Women’s World Cups and the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
The Comoros Test
The Falcons will kick off their Olympic qualifying campaign in the second round against Comoros, with both legs taking place at the Remo Stars Stadium in Ikenne-Remo on October 9 and 13, 2026.
Nigeria received a bye into the second round as one of the top three ranked teams in the qualifying competition, while Comoros advanced after a 30-0 aggregate victory over Sudan. The Falcons must navigate four rounds of two-legged knockout ties to secure one of Africa’s two slots for the women’s football event at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. A win over Comoros would advance the ten-time African champions to the third round in early 2027, where they would face either DR Congo or Morocco.
Why the Role Is Open
Eguavoen’s appointment comes a few weeks after Justine Madugu was sacked as Falcons head coach alongside his technical crew, ordered to step down on August 17. The dismissal followed the Falcons’ disappointing campaign at the 2026 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations and their subsequent failure to qualify for the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup, the first time the team will miss the tournament since its inception in 1991.
With qualification for the Olympics now the team’s immediate priority, Eguavoen’s task will be to steady the squad quickly and ensure Nigeria make a strong start to the campaign, while the NFF continues deliberating on a permanent appointment for the women’s national team in the background.
