Following her qualification for the 2013 African Cup of Nations, Nigeria has moved up in the latest FIFA ranking.
Nigeria, hitherto placed 63rd in the world, is now in the 52nd position, moving 11 places up the ladder.
Also, Super Eagles with the 6-1 spanking of the Lone Stars of Liberia have now moved six places up in the continent of Africa where the Elephants of Cote D Ivoire remains Africa’s best.
Nigeria is now ranked 10th in Africa with the likes off Algeria, Mali and Ghana trailing Cote d Ivoire.
There has been a lot of movement in the latest edition of the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking, with 77 qualifiers for the 2014 FIFA World Cup holding in Brazil ensuring a number of changes compared to last month.
In the top 20, leaders Spain and second-placed Germany remain unchallenged at the top, with Argentina’s move into third place following wins over Uruguay (11th, down 4) and Chile (21st, down 4), edging Portugal down to fourth.
Also benefiting from two victories are Italy (5th, up 3) and Russia (9th, up 3), the latter moving into the top 10 for the first time since October 2010.
Brazil, who are hosting the 2014 world finals and thus have no potential points-earning qualifiers, managed to stay 13th, thanks to two runaway wins in friendlies against Iraq (97th, down 17) and Japan (24th, down 1).
Six teams have reached their highest-ever position since the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking was launched in 1993: Algeria (19th, up 5), Haiti (57th, up 3), Dominican Republic (92nd, up 10), St Kitts and Nevis (106th, up 16), Philippines (143rd, up 4) and Timor-Leste (187th, up 19).
The results of 146 ‘A’ internationals have been taken into account in the current edition of the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking, of which more than half (77) were qualifiers for the next FIFA World Cup, 25 were CONCACAF/AFC continental qualifiers and 44 were friendlies.
Trending
- Queues: NNPC says cause of tightness in fuel supply resolved
- LG polls: Oyo declares Friday half working day
- Ondo 2024: Ajayi emerges PDP governorship candidate
- ‘Dey play,’ Nigerians mock prophet who claims world ends today
- Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway: Demolition for first 3km begins Saturday
- Court subpoenas Lagos prison controller over disobedience to order
- Ondo poll: You’ll be successful tomorrow, Ganduje tells Jimoh Ibrahim, others
- Court sets aside arrest warrant against Fubara’s Chief of Staff