Nigeria’s senior men’s basketball team, D’Tigers, have been drawn into Group C for the first round of the 2027 FIBA Basketball World Cup African qualifiers, where they will face Rwanda, Guinea, and Tunisia in a challenging opening phase.
The draw took place on Tuesday at the prestigious ALHAZM in Doha, Qatar, the host city for the 2027 edition of the World Cup. This tournament will mark a historic first — the World Cup’s debut in the Middle East and North Africa region, and the first to be held entirely in one city, as 32 teams compete for the Naismith Trophy.
D’Tigers, who were placed in Pot 3 before the draw, must now secure a top-three finish in Group C to progress to the second round of the African qualifiers. The journey to the World Cup will span across five qualification windows, beginning in November 2025.
The group compositions are as follows:
- Group A: Cameroon, South Sudan, Cape Verde, Libya
- Group B: Senegal, DR Congo, Madagascar, Ivory Coast
- Group C: Nigeria, Tunisia, Rwanda, Guinea
- Group D: Mali, Angola, Uganda, Egypt
After the first round, the top three teams from each group will merge into two new groups for the second round, with all results from the first phase carried over, emphasizing the importance of every single matchup. In the second round, each team will play six additional games against opponents they haven’t previously faced.
At the end of the qualification cycle, Africa’s five representatives at the 2027 World Cup will emerge: the top two teams from each of the second-round groups, plus the best third-placed team.
With the stakes higher than ever and global basketball evolving, D’Tigers will be looking to return to the world stage with renewed vigor and tactical discipline.
