FIFA ranking: Nigeria drops to 51
Despite being the first African team to qualify without dropping a point to qualify for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia, Nigeria ’s fortune in global rating continue to plummet as the Super Eagles dropped down to 51 in the latest FIFA ranking.
Being the end-of-the-year ranking released by the world football governing body yesterday, Nigeria now is the 6th lowest ranked team going to Russia 2018.
Having slumped to 50th in the November ranking, the tree-time African champion is now the ninth ranked team in Africa.
Super Eagles’ opponents in the 2018 World Cup are ranked ahead of Nigeria as Argentina occupies the fourth place, while Croatia and Iceland are rated 17th and 22nd respectively on the world ranking.
In Africa, Senegal tops the ranking and they are followed by Tunisia, Egypt, Congo DRC and Morocco as the top five teams in the continent.
At global level, World Cup champion, Germany sit atop the rating while Brazil, Portugal, Argentina and Belgium complete the top five teams ladder on the FIFA ranking. This showed tha the status quo remains intact from what it was in November 2017.
The next FIFA World Ranking is expected to be made public on January 18, 2018.
THE NATION
