FIFA ranking: Nigeria moves up one spot

Nigeria has moved up by one spot in the FIFA World Rankings to occupy the 33rd position in the August month, according to the rankings released on Thursday.
In the rankings table posted on the world football governing body’s website, Nigeria has 673 points in August, as opposed to the 660 points it garnered in the July ranking.
Nigeria’s ranking was however an improvement, in a month which witnessed a lull in footballing activities in many parts of the world.
But in spite of the slight move, Nigeria remains the third-placed team in Africa behind Algeria and Cote D’Ivoire, which have 880 and 840 points respectively.
The first two African teams also maintained their spots on the global ranking as the 24th and 25th placed teams respectively.
However, Ghana displaced Egypt for the fourth place in Africa after moving up by two spots with 648 points to now rank 36th in the world.
Egypt now occupies the 38th position in the world with 645 points.
On the global scene, there is only one small change among the top 14 positions.
World champions, Germany, continue to lead the way ahead of Argentina and the Netherlands with 1,736, 1,604 and 1,507 points respectively.
Colombia, Belgium and Uruguay maintained their positions as the fourth, fifth and sixth placed countries with 1,495, 1,407 and 1,306 points respectively.
But Spain has jumped one position forward and now shares seventh place with Brazil, with both countries tied at 1,241 points apiece.
Meanwhile, 2014 World Cup quarter-finalists, Costa Rica, have climbed up to 15th position at the expense of the US, which is now 18th, down by three spots.
This means that Los Ticos of Costa Rica are now in their highest-ever position since the introduction of the world rankings in 1993.
According to the world football governing body, the results of 23 new international ‘A’ matches have been taken into account for the current edition of the World Rankings.
FIFA said: “Ten of these matches were friendlies, whereas the remaining 13 matches were qualifiers for the next Confederation of African Football Africa Cup of Nations.
“It is little surprise, therefore, that the biggest movers of the month are mainly to be found in Africa, namely Lesotho (105th, up 26), Malawi (106th, up 15) and Sierra Leone (50th, up 14).
“The other big movers are Benin (77th, up 14), Botswana (86th, up 13) and Guinea-Bissau (123rd, up 13).
“This month also sees Sierra Leone make their first appearance in the top 50.”