Nigeria men's national basketball team

History

The history of basketball in Nigeria goes as far back as the late 1950s when Walid Zabadne served as the first basketball coach to train Nigerians. At the time, Nigeria's only basketball court was situated in the Syrian Club in Lagos. Walid Zabadne continued teaching young Nigerians to become basketballers and when Nigeria's basketball federation was organized, he took them to several basketball competitions across Africa. In view of his role as the pioneer of basketball in Nigeria, Walid Zabadne has been deemed "father of Nigerian basketball". Also worthy of note is that Zabadne was later made the president of the Nigerian Basketball Federation.

Nigeria's national basketball team joined FIBA in 1964. Since the mid-1990s, the team has enjoyed unprecedented success, due to an increasing amount of talents from Nigeria as well as an orchestrated recruitment of American college and professional players of Nigerian descent. The D'Tigers (as the team is nicknamed) qualified for the 2006 FIBA World Championship, marking only the second time in the country's history that they qualified to the FIBA World Cup. Team Nigeria usually plays its home games at the 3,000-capacity Indoor Sports Hall in Lagos.

2006 FIBA World Championship

Nigeria took part in the 2006 FIBA World Championship in Japan. They were drawn in Group A with Argentina, France, Lebanon, Serbia and Montenegro, and Venezuela. They surprisingly finished third in Group A, then were narrowly defeated by Germany in the Round of 16. Overall they finished 14th, as they achieved the same record as the defending world champion Serbia and Montenegro.

2012 Summer Olympics

Nigeria competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics. They finished the group play with a 1–4 record, with their lone victory coming against Tunisia in their Olympics debut. The team's roster, assembled by coach Ayodele Bakare, primarily comprised former college basketball players.

2016 Summer Olympics

Nigeria qualified for the 2016 Summer Olympics tournament as champions of AfroBasket 2015. They finished at the bottom of Group B, winning one game against Croatia and losing four games. The team entered the 2016 games with several injured players and little financial support from the Nigerian government.

2020 Summer Olympics

As the top African team at the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup, Nigeria qualified for their third consecutive Olympics berth for the 2020 Summer Olympics. The team, which included seven NBA players and was led by Golden State Warriors assistant coach Mike Brown, was called up for training in the United States in June 2021. D'Tigers defeated the United States 90–87 during an exhibition game in Las Vegas on 10 July. The victory, described as an "upset", was the first for an African team against the United States.

Team honours and achievements

Intercontinental

• FIBA Stanković Continental Champions' Cup
  • Bronze: [[Image:Bronze medal icon.svg]] 2013, [[Image:Bronze medal icon.svg]] 2016
• Basketball at the Commonwealth Games
  • Fourth-place: 2006 Continental
• AfroBasket
  • Gold Medal: [[File:Gold medal africa.svg|16px]] 2015
  • Silver Medal: [[File:Silver medal africa.svg|16px]] 1997, [[File:Silver medal africa.svg|16px]] 1999, [[File:Silver medal africa.svg|16px]] 2003, [[File:Silver medal africa.svg|16px]] 2017
  • Bronze Medal: [[File:Bronze medal africa.svg|16px]] 1995, [[File:Bronze medal africa.svg|16px]] 2005, [[File:Bronze medal africa.svg|16px]] 2011
• All Africa Games
  • Gold Medal: 2011
  • Bronze Medal: 1995, 1999, 2003, 2007, 2015

Competitive record

Olympic Games

FIBA World Cup

AfroBasket

FIBA AfroCan

African Games

• 1973 – ?
• 1987 – ?
• 1995 –
• 1999 –
• 2003 –
• 2007 –
• 2011 –
• 2015 –

FIBA Stanković Continental Champions' Cup

• 2013 –
• 2016 –

Commonwealth Games

Team

Current roster

Roster for the AfroBasket 2025.

• NGR Abdulrahman Mohammed
• NGR Deji Akindele
• (C) Team captain
• Club – describes last club before the tournament
• Age – describes age on 12 August 2025

Notable players

Several players of the Nigeria national team have had success playing for professional teams, in the NBA, or in Europe, including:

• Julius Nwosu
• Akin Akingbala
• Peter Aluma
• Aloysius Anagonye
• Tunji Awajobi
• Ike Diogu
• Obinna Ekezie
• Ebi Ere
• Benjamin Eze
• Ekene Ibekwe
• Ike Iroegbu (born 1995)
• Gani Lawal
• Michael Olowokandi
• Olumide Oyedeji
• Ime Udoka
• Jeff Varem
• Al-Farouq Aminu
• Festus Ezeli

Hakeem Olajuwon never played for Nigeria at the international senior level, and would eventually play for the United States, after becoming a US citizen in 1993.

Past rosters

2009 African Championship: finished 5th among 16 teams

Akin Akingbala, Aloysius Anagonye, Chamberlain Oguchi, Deji Akindele, Michael Efevberha, Michael Umeh, Josh Akognon, Ebi Ere, Ejike Ugboaja, Gabe Muoneke, Jayson Obazuaye, Benson Egemonye (Coach: John Lucas II)

2011 African Championship: finished 3rd among 16 teams

Solomon Tat, Ime Udoka, Abubakar Usman, Chinedu Onyeuku, Ike Ofoegbu, Michael Umeh, Stanley Gumut, Derrick Obasohan, Ejike Ugboaja, Ezenwa Ukeagu, Jayson Obazuaye, Olumide Oyedeji (Coach: Ayo Bakare)

2012 Summer Olympics: finished 10th among 12 teams

Tony Skinn, Ekene Ibekwe, Ike Diogu, Al-Farouq Aminu, Ade Dagunduro, Chamberlain Oguchi, Koko Archibong, Richard Oruche, Ejike Ugboaja, Derrick Obasohan, Alade Aminu, Olumide Oyedeji (Coach: Ayo Bakare)

2020 Olympic roster: A 15-player roster was announced on 6 July 2021. The final squad was released on 20 July 2021.

• USA Mike Brown
• ESP Jordi Fernández
• NGR Alexander Nwora
• Club – describes last club before the tournament
• Age – describes age on 25 July 2021

Head coaches

• YUG Vladislav Lučić 1975–1980
• USA Sam Vincent 2004–2006
• NGA Sani Ahmed 2006
• USA Robert McCullum 2007
• USA John Lucas II 2009
• NGA Sani Ahmed 2010, 2013
• NGA Ayo Bakare 2011–2014
• USA William Voigt 2015–2017
• NGA Alexander Nwora 2017–present Associate Headcoach from 2020–present.
• USA Mike Brown 2020–2022
• USA Alan Major July 2022–present

Kit

Manufacturer

2019–present: Peak

References

References

1. (3 March 2021). "Omnisports – Basketball : Le Nigéria toujours " Number One " en Afrique". AfricaFootUnited.com.
2. "FIBA rankings". [[FIBA]].
3. (13 April 2019). "The need for proper Basketball arena(s) in Nigeria". temidayojnr.medium.com/.
4. (1 March 2017). "Lagos ready to take over Surulere National Stadium – Ambode".
5. Young, Sonny. (29 July 2012). "Nigeria, Tunisia Tip Off London Olympic Men's Basketball". [[Voice of America]].
6. Bishop, Greg. (6 August 2012). "Bruised and Beaten, but Nigerians Are Unbowed". [[The New York Times]].
7. Wolff, Alexander. (8 August 2016). "Nigeria's men's basketball team left scrambling after financial, player issues".
8. (24 June 2021). "Nigeria open Tokyo 2020 camp in California with 49-man list". FIBA.
9. Abrams, Jonathan. (10 July 2021). "Nigeria Wins Historic Upset Over Team U.S.A. in Olympic Exhibition". The New York Times.
10. Windhorst, Brian. (10 July 2021). "Team USA stunned by Nigeria in rare exhibition basketball loss ahead of Tokyo Olympics". [[ESPN]].
11. (12 August 2025). "Team roster: Nigeria".
12. "Forget it, Nigeria. Victor Oladipo is gone!".
13. (6 July 2021). "Tokyo Olympics: D'Tigers' coach names provisional squad, omits Diogu". premiumtimesng.com.
14. (20 July 2021). "Nigeria unveil Tokyo 2020 roster with eight NBA stars". fiba.basketball.
15. "Team Roster Nigeria".
16. "NBBF hires Will Voigt to lead D'Tigers to Afrobasket and All African Games; may lead team to Rio 2016 Olympic Games".
17. (9 August 2017). "Afrobasket: NBBF appoints Alex Nwora as D'Tigers coach".
18. (4 February 2020). "Warriors assistant Mike Brown will coach Nigeria in 2020 Olympics: report".
19. Danmallam, Shamsudeen. (2022-06-28). "Basketball: Alan Major to coach male national team".