FWWC 2026: D’Tigress in do-or-die battle against France
Nigeria's women's basketball team, D'Tigress, faces a must-win game against France to avoid elimination from the FIBA Women's World Cup. After two consecutive losses, the team must overcome slow starts and scoring droughts to keep their tournament hopes alive.
Why it matters
The match is critical for the team's standing in the tournament and their goal of building on previous international successes.
Nigeria’s D’Tigress walk into today’s Group B last game against France with their backs against the wall, needing a win just to keep their FIBA Women’s World Cup alive after back-to-back defeats left them the only winless team in the group. A 99-81 loss to South Korea on opening night was followed by Friday’s heartbreaking 71-67 defeat to Hungary, in which Nigeria clawed back from a 14-point deficit only to fall just short. Two games, two losses, and now a stark reality: lose to France today and Nigeria’s tournament ends in the group phase. Much was expected of this Nigerian side coming into Berlin. They arrived as five-time reigning AfroBasket champions, ranked No. 8 in the world, and looking to build on their historic run to the 2018 World Cup’s eighth-place finish – still the best result by any African women’s or men’s national team at this level.
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