World football’s governing body FIFA on Thursday released its world rankings of national football teams. The list, among other things, shows a marked improvement in the placement of Nigeria’s senior football team, the Super Eagles- it puts them in 50th place, 10 higher than the 60th place they managed in the previous month.
The leap recorded by the Super Eagles reflects a recent positive run in their world cup qualifying campaign, and particularly their defeat of the highly rated Algerians. Nigeria now ranks 7th on the African continent, a position it shares with Burkina Faso, which also occupies the 50 position in the global rankings. Senegal leads the way in Africa, followed closely by Cote d’Ivore and Tunisia; the two teams jointly occupy 2nd place in Africa.
On the global stage, Argentina maintained number one spot. However, Brazil took over the second position, forcing Germany to slide to third. Chile and Belgium came in at number 4 and 5 respectively.