Nigeria’s Golden Eaglets have crashed out of the WAFU B U-17 Championship in Burkina Faso, after drawing 1-1 with Côte d’Ivoire in their second Group B game on Saturday, completesports.com reports.

The Golden Eaglets needed to win to guarantee qualification to the semifinals, after losing 2-1 to Niger Republic in their opener.

On their part, Côte d’Ivoire kicked off their campaign with a 1-1 draw with Niger Republic.

But it was Côte d’Ivoire who took the lead in the 17th minute through Alex Bamba, who bundled home a corner.

With five minutes left to play the Golden Eaglets equalised thanks to Abiodun John but it was not enough as the Ivorians held on to join Niger Republic in the last four.

Following the draw with Côte d’Ivoire, the Golden Eaglets have now missed out on the chance to qualify for the 2027 U-17 Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco.

Also, failure to make it to the U-17 AFCON means the Golden Eaglets will not be at the 2027 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.

The last time Nigeria featured at the U-17 World Cup was at the 2019 edition in Brazil, where they reached the round of 16.