The Nigeria Basketball Federation has announced the roster for the boys’ and girls’ teams set to compete in the FIBA U18 African Championship, which will take place in Pretoria, South Africa, from September 1st to 14th 2024.
A total of 24 players, with 12 players per team, will represent Nigeria in the championship. The tournament will feature the top 12 national teams on the continent, including Angola, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Egypt, Mali, Morocco, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, Uganda, and Zambia.
Bassey Ekpo Effiong, Ezekiel Oluwatemitope, and Sani Samuel lead the boys’ roster. They are joined by Azeez Sulaimon Olaitan, Daubuna Mutum, John Wilberforce, Precious Jonha, Duru Augustine Chideru, Abraham Boyce Hart, Kpee Favour Komene, Jovan Ojako Chiebuka, and Favour Ibe Ikedinachukwu.
The girls’ team includes Pius Beggi, Shehu Khadijat, John Patience, Hembam Wandoo, Idris Maryam, Tewogbade Mololuwa, Umeh Amarachi, Isaac Abigail, Ayodeji Olarenwaju, Iwuji Vivian, Samson Favour, and Lijirin Doyinsola.
According to the draw held on August 24th, Nigeria is placed in Group B alongside Egypt, Angola, and Uganda. The full tournament schedule will be confirmed later.
During the group stage, teams will compete in a round-robin format. The group winners and runners-up will advance to the quarterfinals, along with the two best third-placed teams. Quarterfinal winners will move on to the semifinals, while the losers will compete in classification games for 5th to 8th place.
The classification game for third place and the final will occur on the last day of the competition, September 14th. The champion and runner-up of the tournament will secure a spot at the FIBA U19 World Cup 2025 in Switzerland.
Reigning champions, Egypt and Nigeria are the most successful teams in the tournament’s history, each with six titles across 22 editions. Angola follows with four titles. The last edition was hosted by Madagascar, which surprised the basketball world by upsetting several established teams before finishing in second place.
