Eagles Drop Two Places in First FIFA Rankings of 2019

Nigeria’s Super Eagles dropped two places to the 46th position in the first FIFA Rankings released yesterday. The Three- time African champions however retained their last month’s fourth spot in Africa.

The drop was expected as the Nigerian senior national team was not involved in any activities to warrant any improvement in the 44th spot they ended the year with.

With two matches lined up for Eagles in March, Nigeria is expected to rank better in the next edition of the grading scheduled to be published by the world football governing body on April 4.

Even with nothing at stake for Nigeria in the dead- rubber last AFCON 2019 qualifier against Seychelles in Asaba next month, Eagles stand to reap points with good display.

Few days after the clash with Seychelles, Super Eagles will begin their AFCON 2019 preparations with a high- profile clash with Pharaohs of Egypt at the same Stephen Keshi Stadium in Asaba. Both Seychelles and Egypt are ranked 189th and 57th in the world respectively.

Senegal, Tunisia, Morocco, Nigeria and Democratic Republic of Congo are the top five countries in the CAF region.

Similarly, there were no changes in the top 20 of the global ranking with Belgium, France, Brazil, Croatia and England the top five teams in that order.