Falcons to discover 2028 Olympics route today

Nigeria’s Super Falcons will discover their path to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games today when the Confederation of African Football conducts the draw for the women’s Olympic qualifying tournament in Cairo, Egypt, PUNCH Sports Extra reports.

The draw, which marks the start of Africa’s qualification campaign for the Los Angeles Games, will be held at CAF headquarters by 1pm on Wednesday and streamed live on the CAF YouTube channel.

A total of 35 national teams have entered the qualification race, reflecting the scale of competition across the continent.

The list includes Algeria, Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Comoros, Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Morocco, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Seychelles, South Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

CAF has structured the qualifying pathway into five rounds, with only two African teams ultimately securing tickets to the women’s football tournament at the 2028 Olympic Games, scheduled to run from July 11 to 29, 2028 in Los Angeles and other cities across the United States.

The United States will enter the tournament as defending champions, while Africa will be aiming to improve on recent performances after Nigeria and Zambia claimed the continent’s sole qualification spots at the last CAF Olympic qualifying tournament for Paris 2024.

The draw will determine Nigeria’s early route in a competition that demands consistency across multiple knockout rounds, with little margin for error given the limited qualification slots available to Africa.

The women’s football event at the 2028 Olympics will feature 16 teams in total, with 15 nations joining hosts the United States through continental qualifying competitions across six confederations.