Nigeria Super Eagles have dropped nine places in the latest edition of the FIFA Ranking released on Thursday by football’s World governing body.
Nigeria’s Super Eagles, ranked 41st in October with 721 points shed as much as fifty points to amass a total of 621 points and dropped nine places to rank 50th in the World and 8th in Africa.
The Eagles drew their only competitive game in the month under review, a 1-1 draw at Algeria in a dead rubber 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia qualifier in Constantine before following it up with an impressive friendly win against Argentina four days later in Krasnodar.
Nigeria’s slide down the ranking table will have no effect on their seedings for next week’s FIFA World Cup draws in Moscow as the October rankings are taken into consideration for the draws.
One of Africa’s newest qualifiers for the World Cup, Teranga Lions of Senegal climbed nine places to 23rd in the world, their highest ever position on the ranking table. They leapfrogged fellow qualifiers Tunisa, 27th and Egypt, 31st to stand as Africa’s top ranked team.
The ranking’s top five nations – Germany, Brazil, Portugal, Argentina and Belgium – maintained their positions from the October edition and will all be in the pot for next Friday’s draws.
Despite their heartache against Sweden, Italy moved one spot up to 14th but they remain one of four top 20-ranked teams to miss out on Russia 2018, with Chile in 10th, Wales in 19th and Netherlands in 20th joining the Azurris.
The next FIFA Ranking will be released on December 21, 2017.
Africa’s Top 10:
1. Senegal – 23rd
2. Tunisia – 27th
3. Egypt – 31st
4. Congo DR – 36th
5. Morocco – 40th
6. Burkina Faso – 44th
7. Cameroon – 45th
8. Nigeria – 50th
9. Ghana – 51st
10. Coted’voire – 61st
