FIFA RANKING
Nigeria drops in FIFA ranking
BY KUNLE SOLAJA.
Harvest of goals in their last Africa Cup of Nations qualifying match did not impact on the Super Eagles’ FIFA ranking as they dropped to 40 from their previous 39 in the world and are sixth in Africa.
Nigeria beat Sao Tome & Principe 6-0 in Uyo earlier this month to get a 16-0 aggregate win. But Sao Tome & Principe, at 188th globally is the least ranked of the 50 African teams.
It also means that the Super Eagles may be out of the seeded six teams for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations draw if FIFA ranking is used as the determinant.
Though sixth, Nigeria may lose ranking rights to hosts, Cote d’Ivoire who are number nine in Africa and 52nd in the world.
While Nigeria remain static at number six in Africa, Morocco hold on to their number one position ahead of Senegal. The third ranked African team is Tunisia, followed by Algeria and Egypt.
Globally, Argentina hold on tenaciously to their number one position following their 1-0 triumph over Ecuador and a 3-0 away success against Bolivia in their opening CONMEBOL FIFA World Cup 2026 qualifiers.
Second place France lose some ground after suffering a 2-1 friendly defeat at the hands of Germany.
Meanwhile, Brazil at number three, England (4th) and Belgium (5th) retain their places in a top five that remains unchanged from the July 2023 edition of the global ranking.
- The intro and headline are updated to reflect the latest ranking
Zimbabwe has taken a five step up in the FIFA ranking just released this Thursday. The Zimbabwe Warriors are now 116th in the world ranking among the teams that got astronomical rise in the current ranking.
The 90th minute scored against Nigeria in World Cup qualifiers that ended 1-1 contributed to the rise.
Meanwhile, Nigeria also rose a step to the 43rd position from that of December 2024. They are 6th in Africa. Have they beaten Zimbabwe, their ranking could have been better.
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Although currently 36th in the world, Nigeria’s women’s football team, Super Falcons remains the highest ranked in Africa. This is the sequel of the current ranking released on Friday by FIFA.
This is however a far cry from their best-ever ranking of 23rd obtained in June 2004 and March 2005.
On their current ranking, they are followed in Africa by South Africa 53rd, Morocco 61st, Zambia 62nd, Ghana 66th, Cameroon 68th and Cote d’Ivoire 71st.
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The Algerian national team has capitalised on Nigeria’s struggles for form and consistency. Algeria has risen to 4th place in Africa, overtaking Nigeria, which endured a dismal international break.
The Super Eagles drew 1-1 with Benin and suffered a 2-1 defeat against Rwanda, resulting in a significant loss of 21.06 points.
This drop saw Nigeria plummet from 36th to 44th in the global rankings, sliding into 5th place in Africa.
Meanwhile, Algeria avoided a similar fate by securing a 5-1 win against Liberia and a goalless draw with Equatorial Guinea, maintaining their 36th spot globally despite a slight points reduction.
The Fennecs have now solidified their place among Africa’s elite.
African Top 20 FIFA Rankings
1- Morocco (14th)
2- Senegal (17th)
3- Egypt (33rd)
4- Algeria (37th)
5- Nigeria (44th)
6- Ivory Coast (46th)
7- Cameroon (49th)
9- Mali (51st)
10- Tunisia (52nd)
11- South Africa (57th)
12- DR Congo (61st)
13- Burkina Faso (66th)
14- Cape Verde (72nd)
15- Ghana (77th)
16- Gabon (84th)
17- Angola (85th)
18- Zambia (87th)
19- Uganda (88th)
20- Equatorial Guinea (93rd)
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