Junior D’Tigers, D’Tigress Open Camp With 36 Players for 2026 FIBA U-18 Boys, Girls Afrobasket

Nigeria’s junior boys and girls national basketball teams – Junior D’Tigers and Junior D’Tigress, have opened preparatory camps in Abuja on Tuesday ahead of the 2026 FIBA U18 AfroBasket Championships.
The invited 36 players comprised of 15 boys and 21 girls.
The Camp opened on Tuesday, 28 July 2026 at the Athletes High Performance Centre, Package B, Moshood Abiola National Stadium, Abuja.
The Junior D’Tigers will be guided by Coach Michael Iikima, while Coach Peter Akindele leads the Junior D’Tigress. The championships proper will hold between 4 and 15 August 2026 in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire.
All invited players and officials have been directed to report with international passports, yellow cards and birth certificates. Final selection for the travelling squads will be determined strictly by performance in camp.
“Every invited player reports with their passport, yellow card and birth certificate,” said NBBF Secretary General, Mrs. Amina O. Amanchi. “There will be no exceptions and no late documentation. We owe it to the players and to the competition to arrive in Abidjan beyond reproach.”
Both teams have already qualified for the continental showpiece. While the Junior D’Tigers won the FIBA Africa Zone 3 Qualifiers in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso earlier this month without conceding a single defeat, the Junior D’Tigress qualified automatically for this edition and did not contest a regional qualifier.
Nigeria’s under-18 boys are among the most decorated on the continent, having won six continental titles in 1987, 1990, 1994, 1998, 2002 and 2006 — a haul matched only by Egypt, alongside three bronze medals. Nigeria has also represented Africa at six editions of the FIBA U19 World Cup. The first of those bronze medals was won in Luanda in 1980 by a Nigerian squad that included a 17-year-old Hakeem Olajuwon — the tournament that took him to the University of Houston and, in time, to two NBA championships and the Naismith Hall of Fame.