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Nigeria leap forward in FIFA ranking, now number 3!

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BY KUNLE SOLAJA.

Despite the disappointment of crashing out of the Africa Cup of Nations at the Round of 16, the Super Eagles have made appreciable leap in the FIFA Ranking released this Thursday morning.

The Super Eagles are now number 32 in the world from their previous 36th position. In Africa, they are now number three, overtaking previous frontliners, Tunisia and Algeria.

Incidentally, it is the same Tunisia that the Super Eagles pushed down the ladder that eliminated Nigeria from the Africa Cup of Nations.

Ghana, Nigeria’s World Cup opponents dropped from their previous 52nd position (number eighth  in Africa) to 61 globally and 11 in Africa.

For African champions, Senegal, it was a big leap. They are not just Africa’s number 1, they have broken into the top 20 in the world, ranking number 18.

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However, the biggest global jump is by Gambia who moved from their previous 150th position to 125.

Their progress was caused by their position their run to the quarter-finals at the African Cup.

Equatorial Guinea, who also reached the last eight at the tournament, climb 15 places and are now in the Top 100.

Kunle Solaja is the author of landmark books on sports and journalism as well as being a multiple award-winning journalist and editor of long standing. He is easily Nigeria’s foremost soccer diarist and Africa's most capped FIFA World Cup journalist, having attended all FIFA World Cup finals from Italia ’90 to Qatar 2022. He was honoured at the Qatar 2022 World Cup by FIFA and AIPS.

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