The Super Eagles might have clinched the Africa Cup of Nations in a commanding fashion last February, but they will end 2013 in poor position , a distance 37th.
The star-studded Nigerian side started the year in 52nd position and in the latest FIFA rankings released by the world soccer ruling body in Zurich, Switzerland, the Super Eagles dropped one place.
After winning the Nations Cup in South Africa, Nigeria moved up to 30th spot in February.
The highest position attained by Nigeria all year long was in May when the country was ranked 28th in the world.
For the December ordering, Nigeria maintained her position as the 4th highest ranked country behind the usual suspects: Ivory Coast, Ghana and Algeria who are ranked 17th, 24th and 26th respectively.
The last edition of the FIFA rankings saw no changes in the world’s top ten teams.
Spain continue to lead the table ahead of Germany and Argentina, followed by Colombia, Portugal and Uruguay.
World and European champions Spain top the final ranking of the year for the sixth time in a row, securing themselves once again the title of Team of the Year.
The highest climbers of 2013, thanks to nine wins, two draws and only one defeat, are Ukraine, who have collected no fewer than 312 points since December 2012, moving up 29 places to 18th and gaining the title of Mover of the Year for the first time.
According to FIFA, to arrive at the December rankings, the results of 30 international matches were taken into account.
In total in 2013, the results of 918 matches were taken into account, many of which were friendlies (415) and more than a third of which (347) were qualifying matches for the 2014 FIFA World Cup.
The next release of the FIFA ranking will be on 16 January, 2014.