NAN – Nigeria has dropped from the 41st position to 45th in world football ranking, the April FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking released on Thursday, April 9, 2015 has shown.
This plunge is as a result of the country’s team performance in two recent friendly matches played against Uganda and South Africa.
The Super Eagles lost 0-1 to Uganda in Uyo and drew 1-1with South Africa in Nelspruit.
Algeria also dropped from 18th to 21st position, while African champions Cote D’Ivoire plunged from 20 to 23, and Ghana dropped two places to 26.
Tunisia dropped five places to 30th position in the ranking.
Other African teams ranked higher than Nigeria are Senegal (36), Cape Verde Islands (37) and Guinea (41).
The top 10 African countries are Algeria, Cote D’Ivoire, Ghana, Tunisia, Senegal, Cape Verde Islands, Guinea, Nigeria, Cameroon and Congo.
In the ranking, Belgium achieved its highest-ever position in FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking.
Belgium is third in world ranking following two wins in qualifying matches for UEFA EURO 2016.
Belgium is now placed third in the ranking, behind the unchanged leading duo of Germany and Argentina.
Brazil moves up from sixth position to fifth and the Netherlands is occupying sixth position from fifth.
Switzerland is up three positions to 9th and Spain is up one position to 10th.
France and Italy are 11th and 13th, down three steps respectively, while Wales is up 15 positions to 22nd, and Belarus 15 positions from 83rd.
Iraq is now 86th, Azerbaijan 115th, Syria 126th, India 147th, Nicaragua 154th, Gambia 156th and the Cayman Islands 191st.
Most of these teams were victorious in one or more qualifying matches in recent weeks.
Bhutan, who beat Sri Lanka twice in the Asian qualifiers for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia, is now ranked 163rd in the world.
In addition to Belgium and Bhutan, Wales, the Faroe Islands (102nd, up 3) and Timor-Leste have all achieved their highest-ever position since the ranking was introduced in 1993.
A total of 135 international “A’’ matches have been taken into account for the latest edition of the ranking, while the total number of matches evaluated is 217.
Of the new matches, 25 were qualifiers for EURO 2016, 26 for 2018 World Cup qualifiers (in CONCACAF and AFC) and 84 were friendlies.
