Nigeria slumps again in FIFA ranking
Nigeria slumped four steps down in the latest ranking released by the world football governing body, FIFA yesterday, just as Egypt moved 10 steps up in the ladder.
Nigeria ranked 37th in the world and fourth in the continent in last month’s ranking, moved to the 41st spot in the world and seventh in the continental in the latest ranking released yesterday.
Egypt on the other hand made the biggest climbs as she moved from her 41 placing to 31 in the world and fourth in Africa.
Cote d’Ivoire led the pack in Africa with 912 points and placed 17th in the world, they are followed by Ghana with 851 points, Algeria 792 points and Egypt with 748 and were 24th,27th and 31st in the world ranking.
As expected, there have been very few changes to the first edition of the FIFA/ Coca-Cola World ranking in 2014, with football having come to a halt in many places over the New Year period.
Only 18 friendlies were included since December’s edition, five of which took place in 2013, with the remaining 13 in the first half of January 2014.
There was no movement whatsoever in the top 25, with Spain still holding a comfortable lead over Germany and Argentina.
Saudi Arabia (73rd, up 14) and Egypt (31st, up 10) have made the biggest climbs, both benefiting from the devaluation of older matches. Five other teams managed to move up at least five places: South Africa (54th, up 8), United Arab Emirates (63rd, up 8), Belize (152nd, up 7), Oman (79th, up 6) and Mali (40th, up 5).
More movement is to be expected in the February edition of the FIFA Ranking, which will take into account all the results from the 16-team CAF African Nations Championship, which is ongoing in South Africa.