Captain of Nigeria’s U-20 women’s team, the Falconets, Joy Igbokwe, has expressed her frustration at not making it to Poland for the fast-approaching FIFA World Cup, following the Nigeria Football Federation’s (NFF) inability to secure visas for some of the players ahead of the championship in Poland.

The Polish Embassy in Nigeria denied entry visas to Igbokwe and Faridat Abdulwahab, a defender; hence the duo were dropped from the team.

Igbokwe lamented her fate on her Facebook page at the weekend, saying: “I am not happy about missing the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup in Poland.

“I worked so hard throughout the qualifiers and gave everything for the opportunity to represent the country. To have my World Cup dream cut short because of visa issues is incredibly painful and disappointing. It hurts knowing I won’t be in Poland with my teammates after everything we worked for together.”

The captain posted her emotional message with her picture on the right side and added a sound to it.

The Falconets, who are two-time FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup silver-medallists, left Abuja last week for their final preparations in Trzebnica, Poland, without Igbokwe and Abdulwahab.

For some Nigerians, the absence of the two key players in the squad is already a negative one for the team.

“It was wrong of the NFF not to explore every possible avenue, including engaging the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which could have taken up the matter with the Polish authorities, or speaking to FIFA to see if those players could be given a second chance,” former goalkeeper of Piedmont FC of Ologbo, Edo State, Sunny Edoreh told The Guardian.

“The NFF simply moved on as if nothing happened. This is when the experience of the team captain, Joy Igbokwe, will count. She would have leveraged on the World Cup to grow her game, gain exposure to European clubs and potentially reap the fruits of her labour. I was surprised to see that the NFF quickly replaced the two players with Vivian Kachi and Alaba Olabiyi. It is unprofessional,” Edoreh stated.

With the senior women national team out of the 2027 Women’s World Cup in Brazil, attention will be on Coach Moses Aduku-led Falconets in the U-20 World Cup in Poland.