Nigeria’s national football team, the Super Eagles, has dropped two spots to 42nd in the latest FIFA rankings published by the football governing body on Thursday.
This fall in the rankings comes after the Super Eagles played two competitive matches in November, drawing against Lesotho and Zimbabwe in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers.
Despite being the three-time African champions, Nigeria is currently the sixth-highest-ranked country among the Confederation of African Football (CAF) teams.
The top five African nations in the rankings are Morocco, Senegal, Tunisia, Algeria, and Egypt.
In the global standings, the top ten teams are as follows: Argentina, France, England, Belgium, Brazil, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Italy, and Croatia.
The rankings also reveal the positions of Nigeria’s rivals in the quest for a spot in the 2026 World Cup. South Africa is ranked 66th, Benin 97th, Zimbabwe 124th, Rwanda 133rd, and Lesotho 148th.
Looking ahead to the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), Nigeria’s group opponents have the following rankings: Ivory Coast (50th), Equatorial Guinea (88th), and Guinea-Bissau (103rd).
The FIFA rankings are crucial in determining the seeding for major international tournaments and provide a snapshot of a national team’s current standing in the football world.
The next release of the world rankings is scheduled for December 21, 2023, as per the official FIFA website.
