Nigeria’s senior women’s basketball team, D’Tigress, have put their 2026 FIBA World Cup opponents on high alert by beating Colombia 70–37 in opening game of the qualifying tournament holding in Lyon, France.
The team took the lead 18–12 at the end of Q1 but slightly gave up the lead in Q2, scoring 16 points against their opponents’ 17.
D’Tigress then went on to win Q3 19–5 and Q4 17–3. The victory means Nigeria have now won 6 consecutive games.
Person wey senior you, senior you. Welcome to Lyon! Game 1 done ✅
Final score:
🇳🇬NGR : 70
🇨🇴COL: 37 pic.twitter.com/8Kqp8QlnOG— DTigress (@DtigressNG) March 11, 2026
Currently ranked 8th in the world, D’Tigress will face fellow basketball powerhouses, including South Korea on Thursday, the Philippines on March 14th, the hosts, France, on March 15th and Germany on March 17.
The 2026 World Cup host nation, Germany, and continental champions Belgium (Europe), the United States (FIBA Women’s AmeriCup 2025 champions), Australia (Asia), and Nigeria (Africa) have already qualified for the World Cup, but they are still participating in the qualifying tournament.
The qualifiers will serve as further preparation for the global tournament scheduled to take place in Germany from September 4th – 13th.
In total, 24 national teams are competing across four global tournaments for the remaining places at the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup 2026 in Berlin.
A total of 60 games will be played across four round-robin qualifying tournaments across the globe as teams battle for their places at the sport’s flagship international competition.
In most tournaments, the top three teams will qualify for the World Cup. However, because host nation Germany and the winners of the 2025 continental championships already have automatic qualification, 11 teams will progress from the qualifying tournaments to the World Cup.