Nigeria qualify for 2026 World Cup playoffs afta Victor Osimhen hattrick

Read am in 3 mins

Nigeria Super Eagles impress for dia last 2026 Fifa World Cup qualifier wia dem beat Benin 4-0.

Di Super Eagles no allow dia neighbours di Cheetahs of Benin see goal for di Godswill Akpabio stadium, Uyo, southern Nigeria.

Victor Osimhen score three goals for di third, 37th and 51st minutes, while Frank Onyeaka score di last goal for Nigeria close to full time.

Benin no sleep at all for dis match, dem fight from start to finish.

Dem also get good opportunities wey suppose be goal but Nigeria goalkeeper no allow dem shine.

For first half Benin bin get one-on-one chance but di ball go over di bar.

Even for di second half Benin worry Nigeria for di midfield to force dem to make mistake but di Cheetahs no see chance score.

As e be so South Africa qualify automatically for Group C wit 18 points while Nigeria finish second wit 17 points, Benin place third wit same 17 points but goal difference separate dem.

With 17 points, Nigeria stand chance of qualifying as one of di best runners-up, potentially dem go need play extra four matches.

Di overall winner of di Africa playoff go progress to Fifa final six-team inter-continental qualifier wey go take place for March next year.

Skip content and continue reading

End of content

How Nigeria take enta playoffs?

Just few days to di last round of qualification matches, Confederation of African Football (Caf) explain how teams go take qualify for di playoffs.

Hia na di breakdown of wetin dem tok;

Na nine second-placed teams from each group go enta di playoff standings; one from each group.

To compare dem fairly, dem no go count di results against di last-placed Team for each Group.

Dis one mean say na only matches against di top five teams for each group dem go use do di calculation.

Di only exception na Group E wey get only five teams becos Eritrea withdraw.

  • Diafore, for Group E, all results go count as di sixth team no dey.
  • Afta dis adjustment, dem go rank di best runners-up using di same tie-breaking criteria wey dey Article 11.5 of di FIFA World Cup 2026 Regulations (e.g., points, goal difference, goals scored, etc.)

Nigeria record 15pts and qualify for di playoffs through di points dem get for dia matches against South Africa, Benin, Lesotho and Zimbabwe.

Di Super Eagles also progress sake of dia superior goal difference for di ranking of di second-placed teams.