By Patrick Omorodion
The national senior men’s basketball team, the D’Tigers begin their quest to qualify for the 2027 FIBA Basketball World Cup Thursday as the second round of the qualifiers begins in Rades, Tunisia and Dakar, Senegal.
D’Tigers, currently fourth in group E with 10 points from 6 games after the first round, battle group leaders, Cameroon in Tuesday’s third game at 4pm inside the Rades Multipurpose Hall in Tunisia.
Handled by a new coach, David Fizdale, the Nigerian side, on paper, are favoured to take the game going by the head to head record which is in favour of D’Tigers at 3-1.
The only time the 2015 Afrobasket champions have lost to the Cameroonians was in a 2009 African Championship game by a slim margin of 80-84.
D’Tigers’ most recent win (99-90) over Cameroon was at the group stage of the 2025 Afrobasket.
Africa will be represented at the 2027 World Cup in Doha, Qatar by five teams, the best two from the two groups and the overall third best from the two groups combined.
Playing in Group E with Nigeria are Cameroon, Guinea, Tunisia, South Sudan and Cape Verde while Group F which is in Dakar, Senegal has Senegal, Cote d’Ivoire, Mali, Angola, Egypt and Congo Democratic Republic.
