The final of the 2025 Premier Zenith Bank Women’s Basketball League will hold today,Saturday, Sept 20 between Dolphins Basketball Club,Lagos and First Bank Basketball Club, Lagos at the indoor sports hall of the National Stadium Lagos.
In the semi final matches decided on Friday Dolphins Basketball Club defeated Royal Aces Basketball Club, Abuja 66-54, while First Bank had to dig deep to overcome defending champions, MFM Basketball club 47-45 in a very tensed and tough match to book their place in the final.
The final will be a clash of grit and glory and promises to be a mouth-watering encounter given the history of both clubs as former champions and the quality they had shown in this final eight in brushing aside oppositions to get to this stage.
The fans are assured of an interesting final between two clubs that know each other inside out and the winner obviously will need to take advantage of any loss of concentration by the opposition to win.
To get to the semi final before their loss, MFM defeated Titans 57-32 on Thursday, to make it two wins from three games, while Dolphins confirmed the elimination of Nigeria Customs, after thrashing them 79-45 points to make it a flawless campaign, having won all their games in the group with Customs finishing winless.
First Bank defeated Air Warriors 66-35 to get reach the semis before relying on determination and grit to dump out MFM in a match of past and present winners in the semis, while
Royal Aces completed the semis line up with a 40-37 defeat of Bayelsa Blue Whales, before crumpling in the hands of Dolphins in the semi final.
In the meantime, the President of the NBBF, Musa Kida has commended Zenith bank for the unflinching support towards the development of basketball in the country through the annual support/sponsorship of the National Women Basketball league in the last 17 years.
Kida stated that Zenith Bank has remained a dedicated and committed partner of the NBBF and proud sponsors of the NBBF’s Elite division of the women’s basketball league without break for over 17 years now.
He revealed that this has helped the NBBF discover great talents from all over the country that have gone ahead to represent Nigeria on the continental and global stage,.
The NBBF President noted that this support has helped ensured the country’s total dominance on the contiennt for the last 8 years without tasting defeat in the continentcontiennt and also showcasing their influence at the global stage.
He also pointed out the support of Zenith Bank for the female national team,D’Tigress when the bank hosted and received them after the victory at the 2025 Afrobasket and rewarded the team with N200m
The Sponsors, Zenith Bank PLC, plan to bring in about 15 schools to create a carnival like atmosphere at the final and also expose the young ones to the game and probably woo some of them to embrace the slamming and dunking game.
Speaking ahead of the final, the Group Managing Director (GMD) and CEO of Zenith Bank, Dame (Dr.) Adaora Umeoji (OON), who promised to be physically present during last day of action reiterated the financial institution’s commitment to supporting sports especially women basketball in Nigeria.
Umeoji said ”This year’s edition has been very exciting because I am also following the proceedings. We expect a great final in Lagos and I believe fans will enjoy the skills to be exhibited by these players,” .
Among the dignatories expected at the final of the Zenith bank Women Basketball League are the Chairman and Director General of the National Sports Commission, Shehu Dikko and Bukola olopade respectively.