{"id":925342,"date":"2026-08-07T02:14:32","date_gmt":"2026-08-07T07:14:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/07\/wafcon-2026-how-nigeria-won-three-way-tie-with-zambia-and-malawi-to-reach-qf\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T02:14:32","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T07:14:32","slug":"wafcon-2026-how-nigeria-won-three-way-tie-with-zambia-and-malawi-to-reach-qf","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/07\/wafcon-2026-how-nigeria-won-three-way-tie-with-zambia-and-malawi-to-reach-qf\/","title":{"rendered":"WAFCON 2026: How Nigeria won three-way tie with Zambia and Malawi to reach QF"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Soccer <\/p>\n<div>\n<p><strong>The Super Falcons booked their place in the quarter-finals of the 2026 Women\u2019s Africa Cup of Nations, but the journey wasn&#8217;t as smooth as many expected, <a href=\"https:\/\/soccernet.ng\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Soccernet.ng<\/a> reports.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>After recovering from the <a href=\"https:\/\/soccernet.ng\/2026\/07\/nigeria-malawi-falcons-chawinga-wafcon.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">group-opening defeat to Malawi<\/a>, Nigeria had to rely on the tournament\u2019s head-to-head tiebreak regulations rather than the overall goal difference to edge past Zambia in one of the competition\u2019s most dramatic group-stage finales.<\/p>\n<p>Going into the final round of Group C fixtures, Malawi sat top of the table with six points after victories over Nigeria and Egypt. Nigeria and Zambia both had three points, while Egypt had none.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/soccernet.ng\/2026\/08\/egypt-nigeria-super-falcons-wafcon-2026.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Nigeria responded by thrashing Egypt 6-2<\/a>, while Zambia defeated Malawi 2-1. The results left Malawi, Nigeria and Zambia level on six points each, forcing CAF\u2019s tiebreak criteria into action.<\/p>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/soccernet.ng\/thumbor\/ZbBmpRzqI3eflKXYgqbc8-wJFKo=\/1024x683\/smart\/filters:format(webp)\/https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.soccernet.ng%2Fmain%2F2025%2F07%2Fimago1053201705.jpg\" alt=\"Soccer Ijamilusi Folashade Florence, Demehin Oluwatosin Blessing and Mathias Josephine in action for the Super Falcons of Nigeria\"  ><figcaption>Super Falcons of Nigeria. Copyright: ImagoxVictor-Oguegbex<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong>Get Our Sports News First \u2013\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.whatsapp.com\/channel\/0029VagMHLcA89MZvw0Btc21\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Join Our WhatsApp Channel Now!<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<h2>Soccer Why goal difference against Egypt did not matter<\/h2>\n<p>Many supporters assumed that the Super Falcons&#8217; four-goal victory over Egypt would comfortably secure qualification on goal difference.<\/p>\n<p>However, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cafonline.com\/inside-caf\/about-us\/official-documents\/competitions-regulations\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">CAF regulations<\/a> state that when three or more teams finish level on points, the first tiebreaker is the mini-league involving only the tied teams. Results against the bottom-placed team are ignored until later criteria become necessary.<\/p>\n<p>That meant only these matches counted:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Nigeria 2-3 Malawi<\/li>\n<li>Nigeria 1-0 Zambia<\/li>\n<li>Malawi 1-2 Zambia<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The mini-table therefore stood as follows:<\/p>\n<figure>\n<table readabilityDataTable=\"1\">\n<thead>\n<tr>\n<th>Team<\/th>\n<th>Points<\/th>\n<th>Goals For<\/th>\n<th>Goals Against<\/th>\n<th>Goal Difference<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>Malawi<\/td>\n<td>3<\/td>\n<td>4<\/td>\n<td>4<\/td>\n<td>0<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Nigeria<\/td>\n<td>3<\/td>\n<td>3<\/td>\n<td>3<\/td>\n<td>0<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Zambia<\/td>\n<td>3<\/td>\n<td>2<\/td>\n<td>2<\/td>\n<td>0<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Nigeria&#8217;s six goals against Egypt were irrelevant to this calculation because Egypt were not part of the three-way tie.<\/p>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"3522\" height=\"2405\" src=\"https:\/\/soccernet.ng\/thumbor\/qFC2U9lT-CcUwA_jjKnGISey1Ek=\/3522x2405\/smart\/filters:format(webp)\/https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.soccernet.ng%2Fmain%2F2026%2F07%2Fimago10434684091.jpg\" alt=\"Soccer Barbra Banda of Zambia looks on\"><figcaption>Barbra Banda of Zambia looks on. Copyright: ImagoxKimxPricex <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2>Soccer How Nigeria qualified<\/h2>\n<p>Once Malawi lost by only one goal to Zambia, the tiebreak moved beyond the points accrued.<\/p>\n<p>Malawi finished ahead of Nigeria thanks to their 3-2 victory over the Super Falcons in the opening match, while Zambia&#8217;s 2-1 win over Malawi was only enough to level the mini-table on points.<\/p>\n<p>Nigeria&#8217;s 1-0 victory over Zambia ultimately proved decisive. Although all three teams finished on six points, the Super Falcons&#8217; win over the Copper Queens ensured Zambia could not finish above them under CAF&#8217;s head-to-head tiebreak process. <\/p>\n<p>Overall goal difference across all group matches was not the deciding factor in the qualification process.<\/p>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"5184\" height=\"3456\" src=\"https:\/\/soccernet.ng\/thumbor\/ICTgGrjWR5uc8I8ts9nQvFpXERY=\/5184x3456\/smart\/filters:format(webp)\/https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.soccernet.ng%2Fmain%2F2026%2F07%2Fimago1078364783.jpg\" alt=\"Soccer Nigeria Justine Pwandi Madugu, Head Coach of the Super Falcons\"><figcaption>Super Falcons head coach Justine Madugu. Copyright: IMAGO<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2>Soccer Malawi&#8217;s historic campaign<\/h2>\n<p>While the Green and Whites celebrated qualification, Malawi told the biggest tale in Group C.<\/p>\n<p>Making only their first appearance at the WAFCON tournament, the Scorchers stunned defending champions Nigeria in their opening game before defeating Egypt to become surprise group winners. <\/p>\n<p>Even after losing to Zambia, they remained top of the group because of their superior head-to-head position within the three-way tie.<\/p>\n<p>The Chawinga sisters, Temwa and Tabitha, proved instrumental throughout the group stage, helping Malawi reach the knockout rounds in dramatic fashion.<\/p>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"4200\" height=\"2800\" src=\"https:\/\/soccernet.ng\/thumbor\/GxMO3VNguVOzegKFIgNSWXa7cwo=\/4200x2800\/smart\/filters:format(webp)\/https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.soccernet.ng%2Fmain%2F2026%2F07%2Fimago1078006192.jpg\" alt=\"Soccer Malawi captain Tabitha Chawinga during the final of the French championship\"><figcaption>Malawi captain Tabitha Chawinga during the final of the French championship. Copyright: Imago<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2>Soccer Lessons for the Super Falcons<\/h2>\n<p>The record African Champions eventually progressed, but the process exposed familiar foes. The Super Falcons recovered from their shock defeat to Malawi, scoring seven goals across their final two matches. <\/p>\n<p>Yet the heavy opening loss nearly knocked them out of the tournament, leaving their fate dependent on complex tiebreak calculations rather than outright superiority in the group.<\/p>\n<p>For Justine Madugu&#8217;s side, the quarter-finals offer an opportunity to reset, but if they are to defend their crown, they cannot afford another lapse like the one that happened against Malawi.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/soccernet.ng\/2026\/08\/wafcon-2026-nigeria-won-zambia-malawi-qf.html\" class=\"button purchase\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Read More<\/a>Adefolahan Guerreiro<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Soccer The Super Falcons booked their place in the quarter-finals of the 2026 Women\u2019s Africa Cup of Nations, but the journey wasn&#8217;t as smooth as many expected, Soccernet.ng reports. After recovering from the group-opening defeat to Malawi, Nigeria had to rely on the tournament\u2019s head-to-head tiebreak regulations rather than the overall goal difference to edge [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":925343,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27096,2005,134652],"tags":[15956,134651],"class_list":["post-925342","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nigeria","category-soccer","category-wafcon","tag-nigeria","tag-wafcon"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/925342","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=925342"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/925342\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/925343"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=925342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=925342"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=925342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}