Nigeria’s women’s basketball team, D’Tigress, have been placed in a tough qualifying group for the 2026 FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup, where they will face hosts France, Germany, Korea, Colombia, and the Philippines in Lyon-Villeurbanne.
The draw, held at the Patrick Baumann House of Basketball in Mies, Switzerland, on Tuesday, confirmed the lineup for next year’s qualifying tournaments. Twenty-four nations will compete across four host cities — Wuhan (China), Lyon-Villeurbanne (France), San Juan (Puerto Rico), and Istanbul (Turkey) — with 16 teams ultimately booking their places at the World Cup in Berlin.
Nigeria, who automatically qualified for the finals after clinching a record fifth FIBA Women’s AfroBasket title in Kigali in August 2025, will nonetheless compete in the qualifiers as one of Africa’s four representatives, joining Mali, Senegal, and South Sudan.
German international Marie Gülich and former French captain Endy Miyem conducted the draw in the presence of FIBA Secretary General Andreas Zagklis and national federation delegates.
The qualifying format will feature four tournaments of six teams each, with the top three from every group advancing to the World Cup. They will join the continental champions and the host nation, Germany, to complete the 16-team lineup.
For D’Tigress, the Lyon-Villeurbanne pool presents both opportunity and challenge. France and Germany, ranked among Europe’s elite, will pose serious threats, while Korea, Colombia, and the Philippines are expected to battle fiercely for qualification.
Nigeria head into the campaign as Africa’s dominant force and one of only two African teams to have reached the knockout stage of a FIBA Women’s World Cup. Their eighth-place finish in 2018 remains the best-ever by an African side.
The upcoming World Cup marks the first edition since FIBA’s expansion of the women’s tournament to 16 teams — a move designed to give emerging basketball nations more global exposure.
The road to Berlin began with pre-qualifying events in August 2024 in Kigali, Rwanda, and Mexico City, Mexico, where Hungary and the Czech Republic emerged as winners to complete the 24-team qualifying field.
The 2026 FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup will take place in Berlin, Germany, from 4 to 13 September 2026.
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