Nigeria’s women’s basketball team, D’Tigress, have moved up to 8th place in the latest FIBA Women’s World Rankings, keeping their spot as the best team in Africa.
The rankings, released on Thursday, 14 August, show Nigeria climbing three places from 11th, now with 640.1 points. They are still the only African team — men’s or women’s — to ever reach the global top 10.
The United States remain number one with 880.9 points, followed by Australia (719.6), France (719.2), China (712.7) and Belgium (702.1). Spain, Canada and now Nigeria complete the top eight.
The jump follows D’Tigress’ historic win at the 2025 FIBA Women’s AfroBasket in Abidjan, where they claimed a record fifth straight title. They beat Senegal 78–64 in the final at the Palais des Sports de Treichville, winning their seventh AfroBasket overall.
The victory also stretched their unbeaten run in the tournament to 29 games, a streak that began in 2015.
In other moves, Lithuania rose 14 spots to 31st after a strong Women’s EuroBasket run, while South Sudan finished third on their AfroBasket Women debut. Lebanon moved to 41st, Indonesia to 60th, Iran to 44th, and Mongolia to 70th.
