FIBAWWC: D’Tigress Selects Squad Roster for Berlin 2026

By Adedapo Adesanya

African champions, D’Tigress of Nigeria, have named their final 12-player roster for the 2026 FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup in Berlin, Germany.

Head coach Rena Wakama selected a squad that combines experience and youth as Nigeria prepares for its third World Cup appearance, following previous outings in 2006 and 2018.

Ezinne Kalu and Promise Amukamara will join Aisha Mohammed in the history books as the only Nigerian players to have featured at two FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cups.

The team will also be without Sarah Ogoke, one of the team’s modern legends who won five AfroBasket titles and retired from international basketball in March 2026 after 15 years with the national team.

Squad

The list comprises Promise Amukamara, Jordan Obi, Elizabeth Balogun, Murjanatu Musa, and Pallas Kunaiyi.

Others include Rita Igbokwe, Victoria Macaulay, Ezinne Kalu, Shay Ijiwoye, Nicole Enabosi, Amy Okonkwo and Grace Efosa.

Schedule

D’Tigress have been drawn in Group B alongside France, Hungary and Korea Republic.

Nigeria will begin their campaign against Korea Republic on September 4 at Berlin Arena before facing Hungary on 5 September at Max-Schmeling-Halle, Berlin, and conclude the group phase against France on 7 September at Berlin Arena.

Nigeria will be hoping to improve on their historic 2018 campaign, when they became the first African team to reach the quarter-finals, finishing eighth, the highest-ever finish by an African team at the tournament.

D’Tigress are the most successful women’s basketball team in Africa in recent years, winning the FIBA Women’s AfroBasket five consecutive times — 2017, 2019, 2021, 2023 and 2025.

D’Tigress will also be looking to extend the remarkable run witnessed at the Paris 2024 Olympics, where the ladies made history by becoming the first African basketball team — male or female — to reach an Olympic quarter-final.

Their Olympic run included a stunning 75–62 victory over Australia, then a historic 79–70 win over Canada, which secured their place in the quarter-finals.

Coach Wakama also made history as the first woman to coach Nigeria at the Olympics and was named Paris 2024 Olympic women’s basketball Coach of the Tournament by FIBA.