FIFA RANKING
Duro Ikhazuagbe
Super Eagles climb to the summit of African football was acknowledged in the current FIFA Ranking released yesterday as the three-time African champions shot to the third spot in the continent.
They also move four places to the 44th place of the global standing. Only Tunisia and Senegal are now ahead of Nigeria in Africa.
The home and away defeat of Libya in the AFCON 2019 qualifiers as well as the away whitewash of Seychelles earlier all contributed to the good rating of the glory-seeking Eagles.
Eagles with solid maximum nine points from three games are now top of Group E of AFCON 2019 after they won six points off Libya – 4-0 in Uyo and 3-2 in Sfax, Tunisia as well as earned three points against Seychelles
South Africa’s Bafana Bafana who the Eagles will take on in the reverse fixture next month in continuation of the AFCON 2019 qualifiers are 73rd in the world and 15th in Africa.
Group E bottom team Seychelles are 188th in the world and 51st in Africa.
Globally, Belgium’s Red Devils are in sole possession of top spot, albeit by the narrowest possible margin – 1733 ranking points to France’s Les Bleus’ 1732.
Last month, Belgium joined France in becoming the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking’s first-ever joint leaders.
Other countries in the Top Ten of world football in descending order include; Brazil, Croatia, England, Uruguay, Portugal, Switzerland, Spain and Denmark.
The top two remain out in front after a month in which each of them enjoyed a win and a draw, with Belgium and France beating Switzerland (8th, unchanged) and Germany (14th, down two) respectively in the UEFA Nations League and emerging with honours even from matches against the Netherlands (15th, up 2) and Iceland (36th, unchanged) respectively.
The Dutch, meanwhile, have risen on the back of a fine 3-0 Nations League win over their struggling German rivals, and other sides have also profited from success in the same competition.
England (5th, up 1), for example, have swapped places with Uruguay (6th, down 1) after winning 3-2 away to Spain (9th, unchanged), while Norway (48th, up 4) have moved into the top 50 after back-to-back victories, and Russia (41st, up 5) have also maintained their recent momentum by staying top of Group 2.
The next FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking will be published on 29 November 2018.
