The Nigeria women's national basketball team, also known as the D'Tigress, represents

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

in international

women's basketball Women's basketball is the team sport of basketball played by women. It was first played in 1892, one year after men's basketball, at Smith College in Massachusetts. It spread across the United States, in large parts via women's college compet ...

competition, and are regulated by the Nigeria Basketball Federation, the governing body for basketball in Nigeria. Nigeria has one of the most successful women's national teams on the African continent, being the current African champions. They have won the Women's Afrobasket Championship four times in a row and six times in total. They won in 2017 at Bamako, Mali, 2019 at Dakar, Senegal, 2021 at Yaounde, Cameroon, and 2023 at Kigali, Rwanda.

History

2004 Summer Olympics

The Nigerians competed at the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as Athens 2004 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece. The Games saw 10,625 athletes ...

in basketball, one of ten events their national teams qualified for. The Nigerian women's basketball team was one of the twelve teams competing in the event. They earned their berth through a zone qualifying tournament and played in Group A along with

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

, and

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

. The team went 0–5 in the preliminary round. In the 11/12th place game, they defeated the

Korea Korea is a peninsular region in East Asia consisting of the Korean Peninsula, Jeju Island, and smaller islands. Since the end of World War II in 1945, it has been politically Division of Korea, divided at or near the 38th parallel north, 3 ...

for a final finish of 11th out of 12 teams. With this win, they became the first women's African basketball team to win a game at the Olympics. Mfon Udoka was the team's leading scorer and the tournament's second highest scorer. Team athletes Itoro Umoh-Coleman and Joanne Aluka both played high school basketball at

Hephzibah High School Hephzibah High School is a high school located in south Richmond County, Georgia, Richmond County in the town of Hephzibah, Georgia, Hephzibah, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, United States. It is the largest high school, by attendance, in the Rich ...

prior to playing together for Nigeria.

2006 FIBA World Championship for Women

Nigeria qualified for the 2006 FIBA World Championship by winning the 2005 FIBA Africa Championship for Women. They were placed into Group C with

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

, Russia, and the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. Nigeria did not qualify for a pass into the second round and were defeated in the 15/16th place game by fellow African representatives

Senegal Senegal, officially the Republic of Senegal, is the westernmost country in West Africa, situated on the Atlantic Ocean coastline. It borders Mauritania to Mauritania–Senegal border, the north, Mali to Mali–Senegal border, the east, Guinea t ...

by a score of 66–64. Their tournament record was 0–5. Nigeria also participated in the

2006 Commonwealth Games The 2006 Commonwealth Games, officially the XVIII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Melbourne 2006, were an International sport, international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth held in Melbourne ...

held in

Melbourne, Australia Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung/ or ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second most-populous city in Australia, after Sydney. The city's name generally refers to a metropolitan area also known ...

Team in 2007

The team attended the

FIBA Africa Championship for Women 2007 The 2007 FIBA Africa Championship for Women was the 18th FIBA Africa Championship for Women, played under the rules of FIBA, the world governing body for basketball, and the FIBA Africa thereof. The tournament was hosted by Senegal from September ...

; the qualifying event for African teams attempting to make the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...

. Nigeria made it to the quarterfinals of the 2007 FIBA African Championship before losing to

Mozambique Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique, is a country located in Southeast Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west, and Eswatini and South Afr ...

69–61. They won fifth place by defeating

Cameroon Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon, is a country in Central Africa. It shares boundaries with Nigeria to the west and north, Chad to the northeast, the Central African Republic to the east, and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the R ...

63–50. The team did not qualify for the

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

Olympic Games. The Nigerian squad went undefeated in group play during the

2007 All-Africa Games The 9th All-Africa Games (; ), also known as Algiers 2007 (), took place from 11 to 23 July 2007 in Algiers, the capital city of Algeria. Algiers became the first city to hold All-Africa Games for a second time. The 1978 All-Africa Games were a ...

. They went on to the semi-finals and lost to Mozambique 57–46.

2009 Nations Cup

Nigeria has qualified for the 2009 Africa Cup of Nations (basketball) to be held in

Libya Libya, officially the State of Libya, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya border, the east, Sudan to Libya–Sudan border, the southeast, Chad to Chad–L ...

.(12/10/08)
Nigerian National Basketball Team Qualifies for 2009 Nations Cup
, ZNNW.com. Retrieved 4 March 2009.

2024 Summer Olympics

At the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, the Nigerian women’s basketball team defeated Australia 75-62 in their first game. This was the team’s first Olympic game victory in 20 years. The team lost its second game in the tournament 75-54 against the host nation, France. In their third game, they won 79-70 to advance to the quarterfinals for the first time ever. With this victory, the team became the first African basketball team, male or female, to qualify for the quarterfinals of the basketball competition at the Olympics.

Competitive record

FIBA World Cup

Summer Olympics

AfroBasket Women

Team honours and achievements

Intercontinental *

FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup The FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup, also known as the Basketball World Cup for Women or simply the FIBA Women's World Cup, is an international basketball tournament for women's national teams held quadrennially. It was created by the Internati ...

**Quarterfinals:

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

Continental * AfroBasket Women **Gold Medal: Gold medal africa

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

**Bronze Medal: Bronze medal africa

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

All Africa Games The African Games, formally known as the All-Africa Games or the Pan African Games, are a continental multi-sport event held every four years, organized by the African Union with the Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa and the ...

**Gold Medal:

**Silver Medal:

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

**Bronze Medal: 1995, 1978,

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

Team

Current roster

Roster for the

2024 Summer Olympics The 2024 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad () and branded as Paris 2024, were an international multi-sport event held in France from 26 July to 11 August 2024, with several events started from 24 July. P ...

Former players and coaches

This is a list of former players and coaches, as well as current players who have played on past squads, with their years on the team indicated by the Nigerian flag beneath a given year.NGR Women coach – Kevin Cook: I Want to Work with Nigeria Forever

FIBA Africa FIBA Africa is a zone within the FIBA basketball association which contains all 54 national African FIBA federations. It was founded in 1961. FIBA Africa maintains offices in Cairo and in Abidjan. Zones The 54 federations of FIBA Africa are g ...

. Retrieved 4 March 2009.Mechelle Voepel, (14 September 2006)
Another American rout, but turnovers worth noting

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

. Retrieved 7 March 2009. *Olympic games attended by the squad indicated in this year.

References

External links

*
FIBA profileAfrobasket – Nigeria Women National Team
{{FIBA Africa women's teams Women's national basketball teams

Basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

1974 establishments in Nigeria National sports teams established in 1974