2022 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup: Falconets return from Costa Rica after elimination

Nigeria’s Falconets arrived in Abuja early Thursday morning following their elimination from the 2022 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup.

The players and their officials were received at the Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport, Abuja by the General Secretary of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Mohamed Sanusi, and a representative of the Minister of Youth and Sports, Toyin Ibitoye.

Reminiscing their return to Nigeria, the media was awash this week with a report that players and their officials who left Costa Rica, the venue of the 2022 U-20 Women’s World Cup, on Monday after crashing out of the competition, were stranded at the Istanbul Airport for 24 hours due to their inability to secure transit visas.

The players were pictured sleeping on bare floors and chairs at the Istanbul airport waiting for their flight.

But the General Secretary of the Nigeria Football Federation, Dr Mohammed Sanusi, said the Falconets missed their flight from Istanbul, Turkey to Nigeria, explaining that they were not stranded in the European nation.

Sanusi described the reports as mischievous and misleading.

The Falconets were eliminated in the quarter-finals at Costa Rica 2022 after going down to a 2-0 defeat against the Netherlands.

Chris Danjuma’s side won all their group games against France, Korea Republic, and Canada in the competition.