Nigeria’s U-18 women’s handball team returned from Algeria after finishing fifth at the 2025 African Championship.
Despite missing World Cup and IHF Trophy qualification, they ended on a morale-boosting win over Algeria.
Nigeria’s women’s U-18 handball team returned home on Monday after competing at the 2025 Africa Women’s Youth Handball Championship in Oran, Algeria, where they narrowly missed qualification for both the 2026 World Cup and the IHF Trophy.
Led by coach John Uzor, the team wrapped up their campaign with a morale-boosting 29-28 victory over hosts Algeria. However, their earlier results meant they had already fallen short of a semi-final berth, ending the tournament in fifth place overall.
A new qualification format compounded Nigeria’s failure to progress. According to Cosmas Chukwuemeka, media handler of the Handball Federation of Nigeria, the Confederation of African Handball and the IHF designated the Algeria U-18 Nations Cup as the qualifying event for the IHF Trophy.
“Guinea finished fourth, and because they were the highest-ranked team outside the World Cup qualifiers, they picked up the IHF Trophy ticket,” Chukwuemeka explained.
Previously, the IHF Trophy had a separate qualification process, but the 2025 edition was merged with the continental championship.
In Group A, Nigeria finished third with five points, behind Tunisia (10 points) and Angola (8 points). Only the top two advanced to the semi-finals. Despite showing resilience, the team’s inconsistency cost them a deeper run.
