Nigeria’s women’s basketball team, the D’Tigress, will be competing in the qualifiers for the 2026 FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup, aiming to make their third appearance at the tournament.
The team previously participated in the World Cup in 2006, where they exited at the group stage, and again in 2018, reaching the quarter-finals.
The D’Tigress have recently established themselves as a powerhouse in African women’s basketball by becoming the first team to win five consecutive AfroBasket titles.
With this achievement, they have accumulated a total of seven AfroBasket trophies, second only to Senegal, who have eleven titles.
The qualifiers are organized into four groups across various locations:
- Wuhan, China: Featuring Mali, South Sudan, Brazil, Belgium, Czechia, and China.
- Lyon-Villeurbanne, France: Featuring Colombia, Philippines, Germany, Korea, France, and Nigeria.
- San Juan, Puerto Rico: Featuring New Zealand, Puerto Rico, USA, Senegal, Italy, and Spain.
- Istanbul, Turkey: Featuring Hungary, Türkiye, Argentina, Australia, Canada, and Japan.
The group including Nigeria is one of the toughest, with strong European teams Germany and France also contending for World Cup spots. The D’Tigress will be striving to leverage their recent dominance in Africa and make a strong showing at the global qualifiers.
The qualifiers represent a crucial step for Nigeria’s women’s basketball on the international stage, providing an opportunity to return to the World Cup and further showcase their growing talent and competitive spirit.
