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 188^th 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 52^nd 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