Nigeria national basketball team

Nigeria Nigeria
FIBA ranking 16 Increase 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)
All Africa Games
Appearances 7
Medals Gold: (2011)
Bronze: (1995, 1999, 2003, 2007)
Uniforms
Light
Dark

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.[1]

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.

History

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.

Eight players on the team that represented Nigeria at the 2009 FIBA AfroBasket tournament were born in the United States. Nigeria also qualified to the 2012 Summer Olympics.

2006 FIBA World Championship

Nigeria took part in the 2006 FIBA World Championship in Japan. They were drawn in Group A with Argentina, France, Lebanon, Serbia and Montenegro, and Venezuela. They surprisingly finished third in Group A, then were narrowly defeated by Germany in the Round of 16. Overall they finished 14th, as they achieved the same record as the defending world champion Serbia and Montenegro.

2012 Summer Olympics

Nigeria competed at the 2012 Summer Olympic Games. They finished the group play with a 1–4 record, with their victory coming against Tunisia, making the first ever Olympic game the first ever Olympic victory.

Performance table

Olympic Games

Year Position Tournament Host
2012 10 2012 Summer Olympic Games London, United Kingdom
2016 11 2016 Summer Olympic Games Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

FIBA World Cup

Year Position Tournament Host
1998 13 1998 FIBA World Championship Athens, Greece
2006 14 2006 FIBA World Championship Japan
2019 To be determined 2019 FIBA World Cup China

FIBA Africa Championship

Year Position Tournament Host
1965 – FIBA Africa Championship 1965 Tunis, Tunisia
1968 – FIBA Africa Championship 1968 Casablanca, Morocco
1970 – FIBA Africa Championship 1970 Alexandria, Egypt
1972 12 FIBA Africa Championship 1972 Dakar, Senegal
1974 – FIBA Africa Championship 1974 Bangui, Central African Republic
1975 – FIBA Africa Championship 1975 Alexandria, Egypt
1978 6 FIBA Africa Championship 1978 Dakar, Senegal
1980 11 FIBA Africa Championship 1980 Rabat, Morocco
1981 – FIBA Africa Championship 1981 Mogadishu, Somalia
1983 – FIBA Africa Championship 1983 Alexandria, Egypt
1985 7 FIBA Africa Championship 1985 Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire
1987 8 FIBA Africa Championship 1987 Tunis, Tunisia
1989 – FIBA Africa Championship 1989 Luanda, Angola
1992 5 FIBA Africa Championship 1992 Cairo, Egypt
1993 – FIBA Africa Championship 1993 Nairobi, Kenya
1995 3rd, bronze medalist(s) FIBA Africa Championship 1995 Algiers, Algeria
1997 2nd, silver medalist(s) FIBA Africa Championship 1997 Dakar, Senegal
1999 2nd, silver medalist(s) FIBA Africa Championship 1999 Angola
2001 5 FIBA Africa Championship 2001 Casablanca, Morocco
2003 2nd, silver medalist(s) FIBA Africa Championship 2003 Alexandria, Egypt
2005 3rd, bronze medalist(s) FIBA Africa Championship 2005 Algeria
2007 5 FIBA Africa Championship 2007 Angola
2009 5 FIBA Africa Championship 2009 Libya
2011 3rd, bronze medalist(s) FIBA Africa Championship 2011 Antananarivo, Madagascar
2013 7 FIBA Africa Championship 2013 Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire
2015 1st, gold medalist(s) FIBA Africa Championship 2015 Radès, Tunisia
2017 To be determined FIBA Africa Championship 2017 Republic of the Congo

African Games

Commonwealth Games

Team

Current roster

The following is the Nigeria roster for the 2016 Summer Olympics.[2] Captain Olumide Oyedeji quit the squad due to personal problems.[3]

Nigeria men's national basketball team – 2016 Summer Olympics roster
Players Coaches
Pos. # Name Age – Date of birth Ht. Club Ctr.
PG 4 Uzoh, Ben 28 – (1988-03-18)18 March 1988 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in) Unattached
PG 5 Umeh, Michael 31 – (1984-09-18)18 September 1984 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) Ironi Nahariya Israel
F/C 6 Diogu, Ike 32 – (1983-09-11)11 September 1983 2.06 m (6 ft 9 in) Guangdong Southern Tigers China
G/F 7 Okoye, Stan 25 – (1991-04-10)10 April 1991 1.97 m (6 ft 6 in) Pallacanestro Trapani Italy
PG 8 Akognon, Josh 30 – (1986-02-10)10 February 1986 1.8 m (5 ft 11 in) Dinamo Sassari Italy
G/F 9 Oguchi, Chamberlain 30 – (1986-04-28)28 April 1986 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in) Anwil Włocławek Poland
G/F 10 Ere, Ebi 35 – (1981-08-02)2 August 1981 1.95 m (6 ft 5 in) Capitanes de Arecibo Puerto Rico
C 11 Ogide, Andy 28 – (1987-10-01)1 October 1987 2.04 m (6 ft 8 in) Hapoel Migdal HaEmek Israel
G 12 Gbinije, Michael 24 – (1992-06-05)5 June 1992 2.01 m (6 ft 7 in) Syracuse Orange United States
C 13 Lawal, Shane 29 – (1986-10-08)8 October 1986 2.06 m (6 ft 9 in) FC Barcelona Lassa Spain
F/C 14 Aminu, Alade 28 – (1987-09-14)14 September 1987 2.1 m (6 ft 11 in) Hapoel Eilat B.C. Israel
F/C 15 Ibekwe, Ekene 31 – (1985-07-19)19 July 1985 2.06 m (6 ft 9 in) CEZ Nymburk Czech Republic
Head coach
Assistant coach(es)
  • United States John Kirk Bryant
  • Norway Mathias Eckhoff
  • United States Chris Leazier
  • Nigeria Oladipo Johnson
  • United States Fortune Solomon
Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • Club – describes last
    club before the tournament
  • Age – describes age
    on 6 August 2016

Head coaches

Notable players

Several players of the Nigerian national team have had success playing for professional teams, in the NBA, or in Europe, including:

Hakeem Olajuwon never played for the Nigerian team at senior level,[5] and would eventually play for the United States, after becoming a US citizen in 1993.

Past rosters

Scroll down to see more.

Kit

Manufacturer

2015: Nike [6]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "FIBA rankings". FIBA. Archived from the original on 15 August 2012. Retrieved 15 August 2012.
  2. ↑ "Ezeli fue incluido en el plantel preliminar de Nigeria para las Olimpiadas en Rio" [Ezeli was included on Nigeria's premliminary squad for the Rio Olympics]. FIBA. 5 May 2016. Retrieved 23 July 2016.
  3. ↑ Efe, Ben. "Rio Olympics: Oyedeji quits D'Tigers". Vanguard. Retrieved 23 July 2016.
  4. ↑ "NBBF hires Will Voigt to lead D'Tigers to Afrobasket and All African Games; may lead team to Rio 2016 Olympic Games". Basketball. Retrieved 2015-09-16.
  5. ↑ "Forget it, Nigeria. Victor Oladipo is gone!". Basketball. Retrieved 2015-09-16.
  6. ↑ 2015 FIBA Africa Championship - Nigeria, FIBA.com, Retrieved 11 May 2016.

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