Nigeria’s women’s basketball team, D’Tigress, etched their name further into African basketball history on Saturday, defeating Mali 78–64 in the final of the 2025 FIBA Women’s AfroBasket tournament in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire.
With the commanding victory, D’Tigress secured an unprecedented fifth consecutive continental title and extended their unbeaten run in the tournament to 29 games, a hot streak that began in 2015 after their last loss, a narrow 71–70 defeat to hosts Cameroon in the semifinals.
The win also punched Nigeria’s ticket to the 2026 FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup in Berlin, Germany.
However, the African champions must first compete in the World Cup Qualifying Tournaments in March 2026 to secure a final slot at the global event.
Saturday’s final was a rematch of the 2021 championship game, also between Nigeria and Mali. While Mali opened with an early lead, Nigeria rallied in the third quarter to seize control and never looked back, despite a brief resurgence by Mali that cut the lead to four points in the final ten minutes.
Mali, meanwhile, settled for a second runners-up finish in four years, having also fallen to Nigeria in the 2021 final in Yaoundé, Cameroon.
