Nigeria | |||
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FIBA ranking | 16 9 | ||
Joined FIBA | 1964 | ||
FIBA zone | FIBA Africa | ||
National federation | Nigeria Basketball Federation | ||
Coach | Will Voigt | ||
Nickname(s) | D'Tigers | ||
Olympic Games | |||
Appearances | 2 | ||
FIBA World Cup | |||
Appearances | 2 | ||
FIBA Africa Championship | |||
Appearances | 17 | ||
Medals |
Gold: (2015) Silver: (1997, 1999, 2003) Bronze: (1995, 2005, 2011) |
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All Africa Games | |||
Appearances | 7 | ||
Medals |
Gold: (2011) Bronze: (1995, 1999, 2003, 2007) |
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Uniforms | |||
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The Nigerian national basketball team represents Nigeria in international competitions. It is overseen by the Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF).
It is generally considered to be one of the best national basketball teams in the FIBA Africa zone, along with Angola and Senegal. Nigeria will be ranked 16th in the FIBA World Rankings after the 2016 Olympic Men's Basketball Tournament in Rio, making them the top climber in FIBA rankings from last year.
Nigeria is the only African nation to ever qualify for the Summer Olympics through the FIBA World Olympic Qualifying Tournament. This was accomplished at the 2012 Event when Nigeria beat the world elite teams of Lithuania and Greece.
As of 2015, Nigeria is Africa's reigning basketball champion.
Basketball in Nigeria started in the late 50's by a man named Walid Zabadne. He taught and showed Nigerians how to play the game of basketball in the only basketball court in the country at the time located in the Syrian Club. Once the basketball federation in Nigeria was established, Walid would take these young players around Africa to various tournaments. Walid Zabadne eventually became the president of the Nigerian basketball federation and is known as the father of basketball in Nigeria.
Nigeria's national basketball team joined FIBA in 1964. Recently, the team has enjoyed 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. A team dominated by Nigerian-Americans 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.