Sports
2025 Of bitter losses, sweet victories in sports
2025 was quite exciting yet challenging for Nigerian sports. It was a blend of bitter losses and memorable victories, especially, in football, the most followed sport in the country. There were also unforgettable individual brilliances and disappointments. TAIWO ALIMI reports.
SWEET WINNERS
It is best to start with the parts that brought joy and smiles to our faces, and as it has been typical of Nigerian women in sports, they, again, light up Nigerian sports in 2025. Victories came from the Nigerian female football and basketball teams as they conquered Africa in an exhilarating manner.
The manner the wins came temporally overshadowed the moments of losses, making it a bittersweet year for the sports industry.
SUPER FALCONS
The women’s national team, the Super Falcons, arguably gave Nigerian sports fans the greatest joy in 2025, winning a record-extending 10th Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) title in Morocco.
They went to Morocco with one thing in mind: Mission X, a campaign to win Nigeria’s 10th WAFCON title. It was a mission accomplished in grand style, bringing joy to millions of Nigerian sports fans.
The sweet victory came in an extraordinarily manner with the Falcons staging an extraordinary second-half comeback to defeat hosts Morocco 3-2 and lift their 10th WAFCON crown in Rabat.
Trailing 2-0 at half-time in front of a partisan Moroccan crowd, the Super Falcons showed their pedigree and resilience, clawing their way back into the match with a display of clinical finishing and sheer determination to cement their statues as queens of African football.
Goals from Esther Okoronkwo, Folashade Ijamilusi, and a late winner by Joe Echegini overturned Morocco’s strong first-half lead, stunning the hosts, who were hoping to win their first-ever continental title on home soil.
The final had the ingredients of a classic: a host nation looking to crown a golden generation with history, and Africa’s most successful women’s side eager to reaffirm their dominance.
Happy Nigerians lap up the victory and went to town celebrating, something they had not done for a while.
D’TIGRESS
Just as Nigerians were relishing the Super Falcons’ historic feat, the women’s national basketball team, D’Tigress, had an astonishing run at the Women’s AfroBasket 2025, winning an unprecedented fifth consecutive title in Cote d’Ivoire and seventh in total.
The D’Tigress seemed inspired by the historic feat of the Super Falcons and went ahead to make their own history, making Nigerians even happier.
They also achieved a significant milestone in the latest FIBA Women’s World Rankings, climbing back into the world’s top 10 and landing in 8th place.
This historic jump, up three spots from their previous position, comes on the heels of their dominant performance at the FIBA Women’s Afrobasketball 2025, where they were crowned champions for the fifth consecutive time.
More than just continental glory, D’Tigress continued to break barriers for African basketball. They remain the only African team ever to feature in the global top 10, a testament to their consistency, talent, and growing influence on the world stage.
The D’Tigress started their campaign with a commanding 92–45 victory over Rwanda, followed by a 60–55 win against Mozambique. Nigeria then dispatched Cameroon 83–47 in a dominant quarter-final performance.
The D’Tigress fought hard to beat Senegal 75–68 to earn a final berth against Mali. Nigeria edged out Mali 78–64 in a tense showdown, displaying resilience and composure to claim their seventh AfroBasket title.
BITTER MEMORY
FIFA WORLD CUP
But if Nigerian sports fans had thought it was going to be an all-blissful year, they were mistaken. They were hit by the heavy blow of missing out on the biggest sporting event in the world — the FIFA World Cup — for the second consecutive time, having also missed out in 2022.
The most heartbreaking event in Nigerian sports in 2025 was the disastrous World Cup qualifying campaign by the Super Eagles, which ended in a 2–1 play-off defeat to DR Congo in November.
Nigeria had lost the sole automatic ticket in Group C to South Africa but managed to reach the African play-off after beating Benin 4–0 in the final group game in Uyo.
The Super Eagles beat Gabon 4–1 in the semi-final of the play-off to book a spot in the final against DR Congo. The game ended 1–1 after normal and extra time, but during penalties, the Leopards of DR Congo overpowered the Super Eagles 4–3 to claim Africa’s sole ticket to the intercontinental play-offs billed for March next year.
To make things worse for the Super Eagles, the Play-off was only achieved after FIFA canceled some games with Nigeria stealing into the play-off.
Even, after suffering defeat in the hands of DR Congo, the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) began to toy with the idea disqualifying DR Congo for fielding ineligible players.
MORE HEARTACHE
Yet, more heartache followed with the failures of the national male and female football U-20 and U-17 teams in the competitions they participated in, as well as the failure of the men’s senior basketball team in the AfroBasket 2025, and the poor performance of Nigerian athletes at the Tokyo 2025 World Athletics Championships.
Nigeria’s men’s basketball team, D’Tigers, only managed to secure fifth place at the 2025 FIBA AfroBasket, held in Angola from August 12 to 24.
In spite of the disappointments, some Nigerian athletes shown like million stars and they will do down in history as the lights in the darkness.
VICTOR OSIMHEN
Victor Osimhen made history as the first African to win GQ Türkiye’s Sportsman of the Year.
The Nigerian striker capped the year brilliantly with this award after delivering for club-Galatasaray of Turkey and for country.
The win is historic, making him the first African ever to take home a GQ Türkiye honour in any category.
The prestigious event, which celebrates cultural influencers and outstanding achievers across entertainment, fashion, arts and sport, highlighted the transformative impact Osimhen has had since joining Galatasaray — first on loan, and later permanently.
Osimhen performances in Turkey have been nothing short of sensational.
Last season, he recorded an extraordinary 37 goals and eight assists, powering Galatasaray to both the Super Lig title and the Turkish Cup. The feat places him in rare company; only two other footballers in the past decade — Wesley Sneijder and Mauro Icardi — have earned the same GQ Türkiye honour, both Galatasaray legends in their own right.
His brilliance has carried into the current season. With 11 goals in 14 matches, Osimhen remains central to Galatasaray push to retain their top-of-the-table status. His fierce work-rate, clinical finishing and commanding presence have cemented his reputation as one of the most influential foreign players in the history of Turkish football.
Osimhen also guided Nigeria to the FIFA World Cup Qualifier Africa Playoff scoring an impressive seven goals but were knocked out by DR Congo in the final.
TOBI AMUSAN
All eyes were on Tobi Amusan to light up the Tokyo 2025 World Athletics Championships, and she did not disappoint. It was one of Nigeria’s two medals at the global event.
Amusan won silver in the women’s 100m hurdles with a time of 12.29s in the final, winning her first global medal since the 2023 Diamond League final. She was narrowly beaten by Ditaji Kambundji (Switzerland), who set a national record of 12.24s for the gold.
EZEKIEL NATHANIEL
Nathaniel is another winner finishing with a bronze medal in 400m hurdles. The year 2025 was his breakthrough season, twice breaking the African indoor record in 400m hurdles.
In Tokyo, Nathaniel broke the Nigerian record in the men’s 400m hurdles final again, running 47.11s to win bronze. (his fourth place finish was upgraded to third), and made history as the first Nigerian male athlete in 38 years to reach the 400m hurdles final at the World Championships. In August of 2025, he had won bronze at the Diamond League Final.
KONYINSOLA AJAYI & ISREAL OKON
Ajayi and Okon reignited the Nigeria sparkle in 100m in 2025. Thanks to Ajayi (21), Nigeria returned to the men’s 100m final in Tokyo, although he finished sixth clocking 10.00s in a tense final. Ajayi became the first Nigerian to make the men’s 100m final in 18 years since Olusoji Fasuba in 2007. He finished sixth in the final, clocking 10.00s.
National champion, Okon didn’t make the final of the men’s 100m final in Tokyo, he, however, had an impressive season. The 18-year-old, who is Nigeria’s youngest competitor at the championships, impressed in his debut outing by advancing to the men’s 100m semi-final after running 10.04s to win his heat ahead of Britain’s Zharnel Hughes and Olympic champion Lamont Jacobs. These are the beacon light on Nigerian athletics in years to come.
TABLE TENNIS STEALS THE SHOW
While the focus is on football and athletics, table tennis, for its teeming followers, quietly stole the show in Nigeria sports in 2025. For five weeks the city of Lagos-that has become the hub of table tennis in Nigeria and West Africa, hosted five international table tennis tournaments consecutively.
By this feat, Nigeria made a bold statement to the rest of the world that the sport has found a true home in Africa’s most populous nation.
The growing influx of global talent into Lagos, and the deliberate nurturing of the next generation of champions in Nigeria made 2025 the year of table tennis for Nigerian sports. It started with the West African Championships, then the WTT Contender Lagos, The African Junior Championships, The African Cup and The Hopes Programme for U-12 athletes.
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