Reviewed by Rahmon OluwoNigeria sports betting writer
Published 2 September 2026
Nigeria beat Cabo Verde 100 to 84 in Rades on Sunday to close the window on five wins and four defeats, which keeps the D’Tigers alive in Group E without moving them into a qualifying place.
Caleb Agada scored 26 points and Josh Okogie finished with 15 points and 10 assists at the Salle Multidisciplinaire de Rades, where Tunisia hosted the whole group for the window. It was Nigeria’s only win of the three, after defeats to Cameroon and South Sudan earlier in the week.
The table is the problem, not the performance
FIBA has Cameroon and South Sudan clear at the top of Group E on seven wins and two defeats, with Guinea third. Nigeria are level with Tunisia on five wins and four defeats and are outside the three places that carry a country through. The top two in each group qualify, and so does the best third placed team, which gives Africa five seats at the World Cup in Doha.
David Fizdale said his side needed the win to stay in the fight and give themselves a chance. The last window runs from 22 February to 2 March 2027, and everything Nigeria has left rests on it.
What that means for a bettor
Qualifying prices on Nigeria will not settle until February, and the reason is availability rather than form. The roster that lost to Cameroon and the roster that scored 100 against Cabo Verde were the same twelve men playing three games in four days, which is a schedule no NBA or EuroLeague release pattern has to survive.
Outright markets on a qualifying group price the table rather than the team, so a side sitting fifth carries a long number even when it has just scored a hundred. That gap between the price and the performance is the thing to watch when the February fixtures are confirmed.
Where to bet: African qualifying windows are priced more thinly than the NBA, so on a D’Tigers game expect match winner, handicap and total points rather than a full player market. Bet9ja and SportyBet both take Nigerian bets and price basketball in naira. A gap of nearly six months before the next window means opening prices in February will be set on the standings rather than on anything recent, so compare the two books when the lines go up. Our guide to the best betting sites in Nigeria covers licensing and withdrawal times, and there is more in Nigeria basketball news from AXN Sports. 18+. Gamble responsibly.
