Eagles Drop to 70th Spot in FIFA Ranking
Femi Solaja
Super Eagles free fall in global football ranking continued on Tuesday in the July FIFA rankings as Nigeria plunged to 70th position from the 61st it occupied last month. Eagles equally slipped from the 12th spot of June to 17th in Africa.
While the poor form continued for Eagles, Nigeria’s major foe in the 2018 World Cup qualifier, the Desert Foxes of Algeria maintained their number one spot at the top of African football.
Nigeria once a powerhouse in African football topped the continent and ranked 5th when the ranking system was introduced prior to the World Cup in 1994.
Elephants of Cote d’ Ivoire are second in Africa and 35th in the world while Ghana’s Black Stars are rated third best in Africa and 36th in the world.
The Teranga Lions of Senegal are fourth and 41st in the world.
Other better rated African countries include; Egypt, Tunisia, Cameroun, Morocco, Congo DR, Mali, Cape Verde Island, Guinea and South Africa in the 5th to 13th positions respectively.
The other countries that occupied the 14th, 15th and 16th positions are Benin Republic, Uganda and Congo.
Argentina remains at the summit of the July FIFA world ranking but only after a tumultuous month of action that resulted in plenty of movement further down.
Belgium occupies the number two spot and Colombia, Germany, Chile and Euro 2016 champions, Portugal taking the number three to six positions.
The Euro 2016 runners-up, France, Spain, Brazil and Italy make up the top 10 spots in the world.
A total of 228 ‘A’ internationals contributed to the new order with those big events in Oceania, Europe and the Americas especially important in propelling nations upwards.
New Zealand emerged as the month’s biggest climbers moving up a whopping 54 places to 93rd on the back of an OFC Nations Cup victory that both qualified the All Whites for the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup and furthered their FIFA World Cup qualifying ambitions.
The next FIFA world ranking will be published on Thursday, August 11, 2016.
AFRICA’S TOP 10
Algeria
Cote d’Ivoire
Ghana
Senegal
Egypt
Tunisia
Cameroun
Morocco
Congo DR
Mali
