Super Eagles Suffer Big Fall in November FIFA Ranking

Femi Solaja

Nigeria’s 2-1 home loss to lower-ranked Rwanda on the final match-day of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers, the Super Eagles tumbled eight steps down the ladder to 44th spot in the November ranking released by FIFA yesterday.

Super Eagles were ranked 36th in the October ranking when they crumbled at home in Uyo to the then-ranked 126th Rwanda.

Conversely, the unexpected away win by Rwanda has raised the Amavubi global ranking to 124th. 

Despite a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Gernot Rohr’s Benin Republic, a shocking 2-1 loss to Rwanda proved costly, resulting in a substantial decline in 

Nigeria’s global football standing. Eagles however remain fifth in Africa.

Coach Augustine Eguavoen and his wards perhaps paid dearly for treating the clash with Rwanda in Uyo with levity because Eagles had secured their ticket to the tournament in Morocco next year with the draw with Benin’s Cheetahs.

With bereaved Stanley Nwabali, injured Ademola Lookman and Ola Aina out of the final game with Rwanda, Eguavoen gave room to players who were not in his starting line up from the beginning of the qualifiers.

This partly explains why many Nigerian ball fans attributed the defeat to a tactical blunder. They insisted that the coach prioritised player rotation and experimentation over securing all available points.

On the global stage, World Champions, Argentina, maintained their top position followed by France and Spain with England and Brazil making up the Top Five.

In the sixth place is Portugal (6th, up 1) and the Netherlands (7th, up 1) both climb a spot. Belgium slip a pair of positions (8th, down 2), and it’s a case of “as you were” for Italy (9th) in a congested top 10 that is rounded off by the returning Germany (10th, up 1).

No fewer than 192 encounters, with national teams from the AFC, CONMEBOL and OFC regions were in action in FIFA World Cup 26 preliminary competitions, while CAF teams battled in 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers and bouts in the UEFA Nations League and Concacaf Nations League completed the line-up of fixtures during the latest window in the Men’s International Match Calendar.

The final  FIFA World Ranking will be published on 19 December 2024.

Africa’s Top 10

1. Morocco  

2. Senegal 

3. Egypt  

4. Algeria 

5. Nigeria 

6. Côte d’Ivoire 

7. Cameroon 

8. Mali

9. Tunisia 

10. S’Africa