ANDREW EKEJIUBA
Football governing body, Fifa, on Thursday, October 22 published its latest rankings of National Teams as African champions Algeria pushed Nigeria into fourth place in terms of the continental ranking after they defeated the Super Eagles 1-0 in a friendly on October 9.
That defeat and their 1-1 draw with Tunisia four days later saw Nigeria’s rankings drop three places to the 32nd team in the global rankings.
Senegal, Tunisia, Algeria, Nigeria and Morocco are the top five countries in Africa in that order.
Nigeria’s three rivals in the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers in the shape of Benin, Sierra Leone and Lesotho sit in the 83rd, 120th and 137th positions respectively, while World Cup qualifiers foes Cape Verde, Central African Republic and Liberia sit 78th, 110th and 152nd respectively.
There were no changes in the top five rankings with Belgium retaining top spot, followed by France, Brazil, England and Portugal.
The next FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking will be published on November 26, 2020.