NWFL Champions Bayelsa Queens suffered an agonising 8-7 penalty shootout defeat to hosts ASEC Mimosas in the final of the WAFU-B Women’s Champions League Qualifiers on Friday, and only for the second time in history, Nigeria will not be represented at the CAF Women’s Champions League.
At the Stade Charles Konan Banny in Yamoussoukro, the Prosperity Girls were dealt an early blow when Ami Diallo struck for the Ivorians in the sixth minute. But Bayelsa Queens responded quickly, with Emem Essien levelling in the 18th minute to restore parity.
From then on, it was a battle of nerves and attrition. Neither side could break the deadlock across 120 minutes, and the final was forced into penalties. After a tense 4-4 in the regulation round of five kicks, the shootout went into sudden death.
Bayelsa blinked first, missing their decisive attempt to fall 8-7; handing ASEC Mimosas both the regional crown and the ticket to the 2025 CAF Women’s Champions League.
Historic setback for Nigeria
Since the competition’s inception in 2021, Nigerian clubs had only once failed to qualify; Delta Queens fell to Ghana’s Ampem Darkoa in 2023.
This latest heartbreak marks the second time in five editions that Africa’s most successful women’s football nation will be absent from the Champions League stage, despite Nigerian clubs reaching every single WAFU-B final.
ASEC’s breakthrough moment
For ASEC Mimosas, victory was layered with history. They became:
The first club outside Nigeria and Ghana to win the WAFU-B Qualifiers.
The first host nation to clinch the crown, after Delta Queens narrowly missed that honour in 2023.
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It was also a symbolic reward for Côte d’Ivoire, whose consistent hosting of the qualifiers, four of the five editions to date, has been central to the tournament’s growth. The only exception came in 2023, when Nigeria staged the qualifiers while Côte d’Ivoire were test-running facilities for the Africa Cup of Nations.
What next for Nigeria?
The result raises hard questions for Nigerian women’s football, long seen as the region’s standard-bearer. Bayelsa Queens; winners in 2022, fought until the final kick but fell short, leaving Nigeria’s continental presence in the hands of rivals.
For the first time, the balance of power in WAFU-B women’s football looks wider than the Nigeria–Ghana duopoly. And for Bayelsa Queens, Friday night will be remembered as the day glory slipped away by the width of a post and the weight of a missed kick.
