The fortunes of Nigeria’s senior men’s football team has plummeted the more as the Super Eagles have dropped lower in the latest FIFA rankings released on Thursday.
The latest position occupied by Nigeria represents the team’s lowest position since June 2019, when the Eagles were ranked 45th in the world.
It will be recalled that Nigeria’s best ranking was in 1994 when the country was ranked 5th while its worst ranking was in 1999 when the Super Eagles were ranked 82 in the world.
The team, who lost 1-0 to Guinea Bissau last month, is now ranked 40th in the world, down from 35th in the previous December ranking.
Nigeria was Africa’s fifth-best team, trailing FIFA World Cup semi-finalists Morocco, African champions Senegal, Tunisia, and Cameroon. But in the latest rating, Egypt has overtaken Nigeria and climbed into fifth place. Cameroon dropped three spots, from fourth to eighth.
World champions Argentina moved to the summit football ranking, supplanting South American rivals, Brazil.
FIFA, in a release, said, “Six years after last topping the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking, Argentina (1st, plus 1) are once again at the summit of world football.
“Recent friendly wins against Panama (2-0) and Curaçao (7-0) helped the world champions dethrone Brazil (3rd, minus 2), who paid a high price for defeat in their friendly against Morocco (2-1).”
The release also revealed that the Central African Republic have been the most improved side since the last ranking. “However, the most improved side in this edition are Central African Republic (122nd, plus 10).
“By twice beating Madagascar, at the time ranked 30 places above them, Les Fauves du Bas-Oubangui rose 10 places in the global standings, outperforming other notable movers such as Namibia (106th, plus 7), Malaysia (138th, plus 7) and The Gambia (120th, plus 6).”
The Super Eagles will have the chance to improve their ranking in June when they travel to Freetown to face Sierra Leone in a continuation of the 2023 AFCON qualifiers.
Daily Trust