Nigeria’s women’s basketball team, D’Tigress, have continued their impressive run on the global stage, maintaining 8th position in the latest FIBA Women’s World Rankings.
The rankings, released on Friday, see the reigning African champions remain the highest-ranked team on the continent and the only African side within the world’s top 10, underlining their dominance in the region.
Nigeria accumulated 700.3 points following their outings at the recent FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup 2026 Qualifying Tournaments, where they faced a series of tough opponents.
D’Tigress began their campaign on a strong note with a commanding 70–37 victory over Colombia. However, they were beaten 77–60 by South Korea in their second game. The team bounced back in style with a high-scoring 101–84 win against the Philippines before ending the qualifiers with defeats to France (93–86) and Germany (81–73).
Despite the mixed results, Nigeria held firm in eighth place, while Germany’s performances saw them climb just outside the top 10 in 11th position.
At the summit, the United States retained their number one ranking after an unbeaten run, while France moved up to second, pushing Australia down to third. China and Belgium stayed fourth and fifth respectively, with Spain (sixth) and Canada (seventh) also unchanged.
Brazil sit just behind Nigeria in ninth, while Japan returned to the top 10 in 10th after sealing qualification for the 2026 World Cup.
On the African scene, Mali are the next best-ranked team in 18th place, followed by Senegal in 22nd. Mozambique and Cameroon complete the list of Africa’s notable teams, ranked 34th and 37th respectively.
Nigeria’s position once again highlights their consistency at the highest level and reinforces their status as Africa’s leading force in women’s basketball.
