Eagles drop to 40th in FIFA rankings

By Sola Omoniyi, Lagos

Despite a resounding victory in their last game of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers and their only game since the last FIFA world rankings in June, Nigeria dropped a place in the latest FIFA men’s rankings for June.

The Super Eagles, who were ranked 39th in the rankings released in June, lost three points and dropped to 40th.

The Eagles defeated Sao Tome and Principe 6-0 in their last game of the AFCON qualifiers but the results turned out not to have any positive effect on their position on the rankings table.

Jose Peseiro’s men finished top of Group A of the AFCON qualifiers with an impressive 15 points and booked a spot at next year’s AFCON billed to be held in Ivory Coast.

On the African continent, the three-time African champions remain in the top six, which is a big boost for them as it means they will be among the top seeds when the AFCON draw is conducted later in 2023.

Meanwhile, Morocco remains Africa’s number one nation, sitting in 13th place in the world ranking.

While Senegal dropped two places and now ranks 20th in the world, they maintained their second position in Africa.

Tunisia is the only African country among the top six on the continent to move up globally. They were ranked 31 in the previous rankings but in the update released by FIFA on Thursday, they now occupy the 29th position in the world.

Algeria (34) and Egypt (35) complete the Top 5 in Africa.

Globally, World Cup winner, Argentina, is still the number one ranked nation ahead of France, Brazil, England, and Belgium.