D’tigers drop in new FIBA rankings

Nigeria’s senior men’s basketball team, D’Tigers, has fallen four places in the latest FIBA rankings released on Friday, D’Tigers dropped from 39th to 42nd in the world standings. The former African champions accumulated 299.7 points over the past month, placing them sixth in Africa.

South Sudan has surged from 34th to 23rd in the FIBA World Rankings, becoming the highest-ranked African team and surpassing Côte d’Ivoire. Angola, Tunisia, and Egypt round out the top five teams in Africa.

The U.S. Olympic champions retained their top position, while Serbia moved up two spots to second place, overtaking Germany.

Basketball fans are calling for immediate measures to restore the team’s standing. Femi Olatubosun, a fan, criticized the team’s decline and urged the federation to organize friendly games to improve their ranking before the Africa Cup qualifiers. Anthony Bernard echoed these concerns, blaming the federation’s neglect for the team’s fall from prominence and stressing the need for more competitive play to regain their top position.

D’Tigers previously held the top spot in African basketball before the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and are the only African team to have defeated the U.S. national team.