Team Nigeria on Sunday emerged as Africa’s highest-ranked nation at the 2026 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, finishing seventh on the final medals table with an impressive haul of 24 medals comprising 10 gold, seven silver and seven bronze medals.
Australia topped the medals table with a dominant 70 gold medals, while England and Canada completed the top three.
Nigeria’s seventh-place finish placed the country ahead of several established Commonwealth sporting nations, including Jamaica, Wales, Malaysia and South Africa.
South Africa finished as Africa’s second-best team, ending the Games in 11th position with seven gold, 11 silver and 10 bronze medals. Kenya followed in 13th place after winning three gold, four silver and five bronze medals.
Mauritius finished 15th with one gold, two silver and one bronze medal, while Cameroon occupied 16th place after securing one gold, one silver and three bronze medals. Uganda ended the Games in 27th position with two silver and one bronze medal.
Namibia finished 29th with one silver and two bronze medals, while Ghana placed 30th after claiming one silver and one bronze medal. Other African countries that made the medals table included Lesotho and Zambia with two bronze medals each, as well as Gabon, Rwanda and The Gambia, all of which secured one bronze medal apiece.
In all, 13 African countries won at least one medal in Glasgow, reflecting the steady growth of the continent’s competitiveness across several sporting disciplines.
However, Nigeria remained the benchmark for African excellence by once again finishing as the continent’s top-performing nation.
Although the performance reaffirmed Nigeria’s status as the continent’s leading sporting nation at the Commonwealth Games, the country’s overall medal count was lower than its showing at the 2022 edition in Birmingham. Four years ago, Team Nigeria returned home with 35 medals, including 12 gold, nine silver and 14 bronze medals.
The Glasgow outing therefore represents a decline of 11 medals compared to Birmingham, while the gold medal tally also dropped by two. Despite the reduced numbers, Nigeria still finished comfortably ahead of every other African nation at the Games, underlining the country’s consistency on the continental stage.
