Football technocrat, Adegboye Onigbinde, says Nigeria deserves her current position in the latest monthly ranking of the World soccer ruling body (FIFA).
On Wednesday, Nigeria went two places down in the global ranking from 43rd to 45th position.
In Africa, Nigeria equally moved from her fifth spot to sixth position.
Speaking with The Eagle Online, the former handler of the Super Eagles posited that recent poor results recorded by the national teams led to Nigeria’s slide.
“We belong to where they (FIFA) put us. The ranking is a cumulative one and nobody can fault FIFA for putting us where we are now,” he said.
The FIFA technical advisor said further that Nigeria could go down in the subsequent ranking unless urgent steps were taken to address the problems and ensure positive results in international engagements.
“Nigeria will not participate in the African Cup of Nations this month. This absence at the Cup of Nations will surely have negative effect on Nigeria’s ranking in some months to come,” he said.
Onigbinde, who led Super Eagles to Korea/Japan 2002 World Cup, urged the leadership of the Nigeria Football Federation to intensify moves to revive the game of football in the country.
It is recalled that prior to the US ’94 World Cup, Nigeria was ranked fifth in the world.
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