One year ago, in September 2023, Nigeria wrote history at the 2023 CAHB African Women's Youth Handball Championship, finishing third in the competition and sealing a place between the best 32 sides in the world for this year’s IHF Women’s Youth World Championship.

Back then, Nigeria took a 28:18 win against Algeria and a 28:20 win against Tunisia in the preliminary round, securing positive results against teams with far a larger tradition than them, before losing to Guinea, 20:23.

Qualified in the quarter-finals, Nigeria needed a win to ensure their maiden appearance at the IHF Women’s Youth World Championship and they did that in style, taking a clear 28:14 win against Morocco.

A loss against eventual champions Egypt, 18:32, finished the title aspirations for Nigeria, but they bounced back in the bronze medal match against Angola, another powerhouse of the African continent, taking their first-ever medal, with a 28:24 win.

That set Nigeria on the path for a maiden appearance at the year’s IHF Women’s Youth World Championship, which is always a difficult proposition for many teams. The quality level is way higher and the luck of the draw is crucial. Unfortunately for Nigeria, they were slotted into Group B, alongside Croatia, Montenegro and Angola, the team which they won against last year, in the bronze medal of the 2023 CAHB African Women's Youth Handball Championship.

The first two matches for Nigeria were against the two European sides, which is always a difficult proposition for a debutant. And indeed, the contact with this level has been hard to grasp for Nigeria.

In the first match, they scored only 11 goals against Croatia. In the second one, against Montenegro, they only mustered nine goals. But for the African side, just being here, it helps enhance their experience, setting up new goals for the future.

“It is an amazing experience for us and we are trying to learn as much as we can here, to become even better. Last year, we were in our continental competition, now we are at the World Championship and we are aiming to become even better,” says Taiwo Babatunde, Nigeria’s back.

The African nation has also seen some improvement in all departments, with the men’s team taking part last year in the 2023 IHF Men’s Emerging Nations Championship, where they finished on the seventh place, impressing at times, despite not being a regular team on the podium in African men’s handball.

In the men’s team, another young player, right back Faruk Yusuf, has been getting more and more experience in Europe, having been signed by Polish powerhouse Kielce and then loaned in Spain, to Granollers, before signing for French side Limoges Handball. 

Back to the Nigeria women’s youth team, the aspirations are definitely big, in spite of the heavy losses conceded against Croatia and Montenegro in the maiden matches at the 2024 IHF Women’s Youth World Championship. While the roster is only boasting 14 players, they are always playing with heart.

“Our coach is also making us play the best we can, therefore we must respect what he says. We are not that experienced, but we have been quite good in the African championship last year, and we are trying to give our best every time here,” adds Babatunde.

As Croatia and Montenegro are already headed to the main round, Nigeria will feature in the President’s Cup, alongside Angola, as well as Chile and one of Serbia, Austria or Sweden. These will be, once again, tough matches, but Babatunde hopes that this Nigeria side can inspire even more young girls to take up the sport.

“Of course, this would be amazing, to have even more players and handball to become more popular in Nigeria,” adds the Nigeria back, who scored five of Nigeria’s goals in the first two matches.

As for her dreams, she aims high.

“I want to become a professional handball player, feature in an European side and become a businesswoman,” concludes the Nigeria back.