AFCON 2025
The Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF) has unveiled its 12-man D’Tigers roster for Window 3 of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2027 African Qualifiers, scheduled to take place from July 2 to 5 in LuFormer NBA forward Chimezie Metu leads the squadd Chimezie Metu, joined by experienced guards Stan Okoye, Ike Iroegbu, and UC Iroegbu, while Caleb Agada returns after establishing himself as one of D’Tigers’ most consistent performers in recent years.
Other members include Daniel Utomi, Kaodirichi Akobundu-Ehiogu, Christian Mekowulu, Martins Igbanu, Wesley Iwundu, Michael Eric, and Paul Dibal. This marks Head Coach David Fizdale’s first time taking charge of D’Tigers, bringing decades of NBA coaching experience to the role.
Nigeria enters this window looking to bounce back. In their last outing — Window 1, played in Rades, Tunisia, back in November — Nigeria fell 78–88 to Tunisia in a tense overtime battle before suffering a shock 69–55 defeat to Guinea, their first-ever loss to the Guineans in World Cup qualifying history.
However, D’Tigers salvaged the window with a win in their final game, as Morris Udeze delivered a game-high 30 points to inspire a hard-fought 75–69 overtime victory over Rwanda. That left them third in Group C with one win from three games, behind leaders Guinea and second-placed Tunisia.
Nigeria will now play the return fixtures against the same three rivals, taking on Guinea on Friday, July 3, before concluding their group campaign on Sunday, July 5.
