Nigeria, July 12 -- Nigeria's U17 women's team, the Flamingos, have secured qualification for the 2026 FIFA U17 Women's World Cup after defeating Benin 5-3 in a thrilling second-leg playoff to complete an 8-5 aggregate victory.

The entertaining encounter, played in Togo, saw the Flamingos claim one of Africa's four automatic qualification places for the tournament, which will be hosted by Morocco from 17 October to 7 November.

As hosts, Morocco qualify automatically, taking the continent's representation to five teams at the expanded 24-nation competition.

Nigeria made a flying start when Mark Akpan opened the scoring in the sixth minute, but Benin responded five minutes later through prolific striker Romaine Gandonou.

Esther Enne Ste...