Nigeria’s Super Eagles moved up by two places to the 45th position in the latest FIFA/Coca-Cola World Rankings released in Zurich yesterday.
The Eagles were ranked 47th in the March FIFA rankings following their goalless draw with Mexico in last month’s international friendly.
Europe occupies the top three places on the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking after Portugal climbed third behind leaders Spain and Germany.
They are followed by four South American sides in Colombia, (4th, up 1), Uruguay (5th, up 1) and fierce rivals Argentina (down 3) and Brazil (up 3), who share sixth position. Just 12 points separate this quartet.
Greece return to the top ten for the first time since October 2012, while Scotland moved up 15 places to the 22nd position in the world.
Cote D’Ivoire continue to be the top-ranked African side moving up three places to 21 this month. Egypt also moved up two spots to finish in 24th position in the world and second in Africa. They are followed by Algeria in 25, Ghana 38, Cape Verde 42, Tunisia 49, Cameroon 50, Guinea51 and Mali 59 to round up the African top ten.
Nigeria’s World Cup Group F opponents are ranked thus: Argentina 6, Bosnia-Herzegovina 25 and Iran 37.
In a statement while announcing rankings in Zurich yesterday, FIFA explained that only six matches were played over the past month.
“The majority of changes to the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking can be attributed to the devaluation of matches from previous years, most of which were FIFA World Cup qualifiers and now have a greatly reduced weighting.
No team has managed to break into the top 50. UEFA has an unparalleled 27 sides in the leading half-century, following by CONMEBOL and the CAF on eight, CONCACAF on five, the AFC on two and the OFC on zero.”
The six matches played brought the total number evaluated so far this year to 128.
The next FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking will be published on 8 May.
AFRICA’S TOP 20:
21 1 Côte d’Ivoire
24 2 Egypt
25 3 Algeria
38 4 Ghana
42 5 Cape Verde Islands
45 6 Nigeria
49 7 Tunisia
50 8 Cameroon
51 9 Guinea
59 10 Mali
61 11 Burkina Faso
62 12 Libya
63 13 Senegal
66 14 South Africa
71 15 Sierra Leone
74 16 Zambia
76 17 Morocco
86 18 Uganda
87 19 Gabon
88 20 Congo DR
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