Nigeria have dropped seven places in the monthly FIFA
rankings, according to the November rankings released on Thursday by world
football governing body FIFA. The Super Eagles dropped from 52 to 59. The
downward movement marks a continual drop for the national team in the last four
months.
The three-time African champions dropped to the 12th
position on the continent.
Current African champions, Ivory Coast maintained the top spot amongst African
teams. Africa’s best team to the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, Algeria, is next to
the Ivorians and are followed by Ghana and Cape Verde. The other teams of
Senegal, Tunisia, Cameroon, Congo Guinea, Congo DR and Egypt, follow in that
order. These teams are all ranked ahead of Nigeria.
Nigeria’s rivals, Cameroon, are no longer one of the
world’s top 50 ranked teams. The Indomitable Lions, who sacked Coach Volker Finke,
last week, dropped three places to the 51st spot, their lowest ranking since
2013.
Belgium featuring the likes Edwin Hazard, Christian
Benteke and Vincent Kompany top the world rankings for the first time in their
history, jumping two places to replace previous leaders Argentina who are now
third.
World champions Germany kept their second place, while
the biggest climbers in the top 10 are Chile who are now fifth, having moved up
four places.
England, who are ninth after moving up one place, and
Austria, who are 10th after moving up one step, have each made slight
progresses. It is the first time Belgium, Chile and Austria have reached that
level in the world rankings. Nigeria’s best-ever came in 1994 on the road to
the World Cup, when the country was ranked 5th in the world.
Six teams leapt by 10 places or more in the top 50
this month. These include (18th, up 19), Bosnia and Herzegovina (20th, up 10)
and Ecuador (21st, up 10).
A total of 172 international ‘A’ matches were taken
into account in the November edition of the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking.
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