Nigeria Basketball Teams: D’Tigers and D’Tigress

National teams

The Nigeria national basketball team

The Nigerian national basketball team is wholly managed by the Basketball Federation in Nigeria and is known as NBBF. The Nigeria basketball team is considered as one of the most successful and best national basketball teams in the FIBA Africa zone followed by Angola and Senegal respectively.

In the FIBA World Ranking, Nigeria was ranked 16th after the 2016 Olympic Men’s Basketball Tournament in Rio which made them the top climber in FIBA rankings from the previous year; as of September 2026 they are ranked 52nd.

The Nigerian team was the only African nation to qualify for the Summer Olympics through the FIBA World Olympic qualifying in the Tournament; which was accomplished at the 2012 Event when Nigeria beat the world elite teams of Lithuania and Greece. The Nigeria teams emerge the winner of basketball champion of Africa.

D’Tigers: Nigeria men’s national team

The Nigerian Basketball Federation (NBBF) governs Nigeria’s National male team “D’Tigers“, the federation has been an affiliate of FIBA since 1963 with its offices in Lagos and Abuja. Generally, the D’Tigers is considered the best National basketball teams in the FIBA Africa zone alongside Senegal and Angola, although as of September 2026 FIBA ranks Nigeria 52nd in the world, behind several African teams led by South Sudan.

Nigeria has been one of the predominant teams when it comes to basketball games, and it consists mainly of Nigerian-American players and few of the national (local) basketball players. Currently, the sports is rated the second most popular sports in Nigeria and throughout the continent after football/soccer because of the massive increase in the number of people practising.

The basketball players in Nigeria’s national team are skilled in the sports field and have performed and are still performing outstandingly in their respective clubs, some of the players consist of Ike Diogu, Festus Ezeli, Gani Lawal, Al-Farouq Aminu, Jamal Olasewere, Aloysius Anagonye, Koko Archibong, Akin Akingbala, Ime Udoka, Julius Nwosu, Michael Olowokandi and more.

In their series of tournaments and championships, the Nigeria men basketball team has emerged as winners in some of the featured games and has won titles such as FIBA African Championship in 2015, qualified for the 2006 FIBA World Cup and much more.

Basketball has its inventory history related to Walid Zabadne in the late 50s, the sport was introduced in Africa by the Colonial Administrators and Missionaries during the 20th century; the sport gained more recognition after Nigeria’s Independence in the year 1960 and after Nigeria became a member of FIBA; with Walid Zabadne as the first Nigerian Basketball Federation President.

Both D’Tigers and the D’Tigress of Nigeria are being coordinated and managed by the Nigerian Basketball Federation (NBBF); The D’Tigers are Nigeria’s National Men senior basketball team which is mostly made up of Nigerian foreign-based players and the team is currently ranked 52nd in the world (FIBA, September 2026) and is still considered one of the best basketball teams in the FIBA Africa zone alongside Senegal and Angola.

The D’Tigers qualified for the 2006 FIBA World Cup making it the second time Nigeria had its name engraved in the list of countries qualified for the FIBA World Cup.

D’Tigers of Nigerian senior basketball teams emerged champions of Africa following their exploits at the Afrobasket Men’s Championship which took place in Tunisia from the 19th of August to 30th August 2015. The D’Tigers defeated Angola to secure a place as the champion, and that was their first ever FIBA African Championship Title in the history of Afrobasket 2015 finals.

The China-based Nigerian player, Ike Diogu who captained the D’Tigers team to secure a silver medal in the 2017 Afrobasket didn’t participate in the 2015 games in which Nigeria emerged champions of Africa following their exploits at the Afrobasket Men’s Champions in Tunisia because as of then, he suffered a leg injury and wasn’t able to play in the game.

The Angolans were defeated to secure their Championship as the first ever FIBA African Championship title in the historic Afrobasket 2015 finals. This championship also earned the Nigerians a ticket to the 2016 Rio Olympic Games in Brazil.

Nigerian D’Tigers star Oguchi was awarded the Most Valuable Player Award for his stellar performance and also the honour for The Best 3-Point Shooter in the entire tournament. Alongside his teammate, he was named into the All-Star Five of the tournament.

In 2017, the Nigerian, China-based Ike Diogu captained the D’Tigers team to win a silver medal in the Afrobasket Championship in Tunisia; he also influenced the team on its run of three straight wins in the second half of the FIBA World Cup qualifiers 2019 with the average of 17.7 points per game.

The New Zealand team then ranked 38 in the FIBA ranking is said to have tamed the D’Tigers after they were defeated by 65 points to 110 in just one night, after a close game in first and second quarters with 24-15 and 26-20 points and a 31-8 scoreline to seal up their victory with another 29-22 score point to wrap up the game.

The Nigerian Basketball Federation (NBBF) also released the provisional list with the name of eighteen D’Tigers players for the 2019 FIBA World cup qualifiers in Bamako, Mali.

D’Tigers team is set for the 2019 FIBA World cup qualifiers in Bamako, Mali. D’Tigers has remained the highest ranked team on the FIBA ranking list which was released on the 1st of March 2018 after the team won their entire 2019 World cup qualifying games in Mali to retain their 32nd position ranking in the world.

D’Tigress: Nigeria women’s national team

D’Tigress of Nigeria is the women’s national basketball team comprising senior women basketballers who have achieved fame through their efforts at international and national basketball female tournaments.

The team was created under the administration of Nigeria Basketball Federation and was affiliated to the International Basketball Federation, Africa in the year 1964. They have participated in several tournaments which included the World’s Women Cup, AfroBasket Women, Commonwealth Games, FIBA World Champion for Women and Summer Olympic games among others.

D’Tigress in other words called Nigerian women’s basketball team has won gold on several occasions; they won gold medal Africa in 2003, 2005, 2017, 2019, 2021, 2023 and 2025, bronze medal in 1997 and 2015. They have different uniforms for their matches viz home and away matches.

The team participated in basketball during the 2004 Summer Olympics and got qualified. During the finals, Nigerian women’s basketball team finished 11th out of the 12 teams and at last defeated Korea to become the first ever African women’s basketball team to win at Olympics game. That was the year they won an Olympic berth through a zone qualifying tournament and played with Australia, Brazil, Greece, Japan and Russia in Group A.

In 2005, they also participated in FIBA Africa Championship for Women and were qualified through their efforts for the 2006 World Championship, where they were placed in Group C with the United States, China and Russia.

The qualification earned them an opportunity to compete at the 2006 FIBA World Championship for Women though they were kicked-off in the 15/16th game by Senegal. They also participated in Commonwealth Games held in Melbourne, Australia during the same year.

Nigerian women’s basketball team (D’Tigress) was part of FIBA Africa Championship for Women in 2007 which could have qualified them for 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing but they lost the game to Mozambique during the quarterfinals.

The squads that represented Nigeria in the tournament included Chioma Udeaja, Funmilayo Ojelabi-Ogunleye, Olayinka Sanni, Charity Egenti, Mercy Okorie, Ekworomadu Joyce, Mfon Udoka, Ugochukwu Oha, Sefi Mojidi, Amaka Adibeli, Ononiwu Chisaokwu, and Enjoli Izidor.

The team won the third position in the African Championship of 2015 among several other teams that participated in the tournament. Also during the FIBA Women’s 2017 Afrobasket Championship in Mali, Bamako they emerged African champions for the first time after 12 accumulated years. The winning award gains them qualification for the emerging World Cup billed to feature 16 countries.

D’Tigress players who made history

The Nigeria female basketball team has made the country proud in all its ramifications, there are some of the national players/team who had made outstanding performances and they include but is not limited to;

Mfon Sunday Udoka is a Nigerian-American expert female basketball player and a former assistant coach of Nigeria women’s national basketball team, D’Tigress. Udoka is a sister to the former NBA player, Ime Udoka and she was born in the year 1976; on the 16th June in Portland, Oregon.

She graduated from the Benson Polytechnic High School, Portland in 1994 and later attended DePaul University in Chicago, Illinois from 1994 to 1998. After her graduation in 1998, she joined the Detroit Shock (a Women’s National Basketball Association team) Auburn Hills, Michigan where she appeared in 3 games before she left for Portugal in 1998/99 session.

Mfon Udoka has played with a number of international women’s basketball teams such as the Birmingham Power, Birmingham, Alabama (2001); Electra Ramat HaSharon, Israel (2001/2002); Chicago Blaze, Harbin Chicago (2003); Houston Comets, Houston, Texas (2003/2004) then for the remaining season in 2004 she signed in with Los Angeles Sparks, Los Angeles, California.

She was the Nigeria women’s national basketball team leading scorer and the tournament’s second highest scorer in 2004 Summer Olympics. She also led Nigeria in the 2006 FIBA World’s Championship for Women before she was made the new Assistant Coach in 2011 for the Nigeria women’s national basketball team, D’Tigress as they prepare for the African Nations Cup in Mali and the All Africa Games.

Olayinka Sanni is an American-Nigerian professional basketball player. She was born in the year 1986 on the 21st day of August in Chicago Heights, Illinois, USA.

She has played with famous basketball teams such as Phoenix Mercury, Tulsa Shock, Oklahoma and Phoenix Arizona, Detroit Shock Auburn Hills, Michigan at international level as a forward centre player.

In recent years, she has played with a French women’s basketball team called ESB Villeneuve-d’Ascq. She played with the team during 2009/2010 Women’s National Basketball Association off-season tournament.

Olayinka has represented Nigeria in several women’s basketball competitions. She was one of the squads for 2006 FIBA Championship for Women.

Ugochukwu Henrietta Oha is a Nigerian basketball player in the women team that is based in America, she was born and brought up in the city of Houston, Texas in the United States. She was birthed on the 18th day of July 1982.

Ugochukwu attended Alief Hastings High School in Houston which after she proceeded to George Washington University where she acquired higher education. She competed with the Nigeria women’s national basketball team, D’Tigress at the 2004 Summer Olympics.

Upe Atosu is a female Nigerian basketball player. She was born in the year 1993 on April 21 in the Edo state of Nigeria. She is a member of the National basketball team and the First Bank Basketball Club of Lagos.

In 2017, Upe participated in the Women’s Afrobasket where Nigeria won the gold medal.

Ononiwu Chisaokwu is a Nigerian-American female basketball player born on the 21st of January 1986 in Houston Texas, USA where she was brought up as well.

She is said to have attended Westfield High School, United States. She later played college basketball in Santa Barbara, California.

Other women basketball players include Ezinne Kalu-Phelps, Akhator Evelyn, Chioma Udeaja, Ekworomadu Joyce, Sarah Ogoke-Ejiogu, Sefi Mojidi, Enjoli Izidor, Mercy Okorie, Charity Egenti, Funmilayo Ojelabi-Ogunleye, Nkechi Akashili, Ndidi Madu, Cecelia Okoye, Aisha Mohammed, Amaka Adibeli, Adaora Elonu, Ugochi Nicole Nwaigwe, Atonye Nyingifa and more.

D’Tigress competitions and results

Below are some of the competitions that the female national basketball team has featured in, it includes;

• 2009 Africa Cup of Nations Madagascar
• 2008 Summer Olympics qualifying campaign (Beijing)
• 2007 All-Africa Games
• African Championship For Women 2017
• Afrobasket for Women in Mali August 2017
• World Championship 2018
• 2006 Commonwealth Games held in Melbourne, Australia
• FIBA World Champion for Women
• Summer Olympic

The nation’s team championships and results are also stated below:

• African Championship 1974: 5th
• African Championship 1981: 7th
• African Championship 1997: 3rd
• African Championship 2003: 1st
• Summer Olympics 2004: 11th position
• African Championship 2005: 1st
• World Championship 2006: 16th
• African Championship 2007: 5th
• African Championship 2009: 5th
• African Championship 2011: 4th
• African Championship 2013: 6th

• African Championship 2015: 3rd
• African Championship 2017: 1st
• World Championship 2018: 8th

Nigeria’s youth women’s teams

Other teams operating as the Nigeria Women Basketball team include Nigeria women’s national under-19 basketball team, Nigeria women’s national under-17 basketball team, and the Nigeria women’s national 3x3 team.

Nigeria Women’s National Under-19 Basketball Team is a national basketball team for women that functions under the administration of the Nigeria Basketball Federation.

The team represents the country in women’s basketball international competitions that require players under the age of 18 and age 19. They made a debut in 2011 at the World’s Championship for Women but they didn’t win any prize.

Nigeria Women’s National Under-17 Basketball Team is another women’s basketball team that operates at the national level. The team is run and controlled by the Nigeria Basketball Federation.

The team represents Nigeria at international women basketball tournaments that call for players under the age of 16 and under the age of 17. They qualified for the 2016 World Championships for Women but were unable to travel, so their games were recorded as forfeits.

Checked 30 September 2026

Nigeria at the Commonwealth Games and African Games

Nigeria has played basketball at three Commonwealth Games without winning a medal: both D’Tigers and D’Tigress in Melbourne in 2006, the men in Gold Coast in 2018, and the new 3x3 events in Glasgow in 2026. At the African Games, Nigeria has won 12 basketball medals.

The next African Games are in Cairo, Egypt, from 20 January to 7 February 2027. See the full medal stories on our Commonwealth Games and African Games pages.