July 10 (THEWILL) — The President of the Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF), Musa Kida, has called on Nigerians to throw their full support behind D’Tigers as the senior men’s national team prepares to begin the second round of the 2027 FIBA Basketball World Cup African Qualifiers.
Kida made the appeal in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), expressing confidence in the team’s ability to secure qualification for the global tournament.
Nigeria has been drawn in a challenging Group E alongside Cameroon, South Sudan, Cabo Verde, Tunisia and Guinea.
The federation president said D’Tigers will open their campaign against Cameroon on August 27, before taking on South Sudan on August 28 and Cabo Verde on August 30 during the opening qualification window.
Kida urged basketball enthusiasts, corporate organisations and other stakeholders to unite behind the national team, stressing that strong support would inspire the players and coaching crew throughout the qualification campaign.
“The support of Nigerians will provide the needed motivation for the players and technical crew as they compete against some of Africa’s top basketball nations”, he said.
He expressed optimism that D’Tigers possess the quality required to compete successfully despite the strength of their opponents.
According to Kida, Nigeria enters the qualifiers with a favourable head-to-head record against Cameroon, having won three of their last four meetings, while the team has also enjoyed positive results against South Sudan in previous encounters.
He, however, acknowledged that Cabo Verde remains a difficult opponent, with Nigeria managing just one victory in six previous meetings.
Kida added that a strong start to the qualification campaign would significantly improve D’Tigers’ chances of securing one of Africa’s places at the 2027 FIBA Basketball World Cup.
Nigeria advanced to the second round after a remarkable turnaround in the first phase of the qualifiers. D’Tigers finished the second qualification window with one win and two defeats, losing to Tunisia and Guinea before overcoming Rwanda 75-69 in overtime to keep their hopes alive.
The team then produced an impressive response in the third qualification window in Luanda, Angola, recording three consecutive victories between July 2 and July 5 to finish strongly and book a place in the next stage of the African qualifiers.
