The Super Eagles plummeted even more in the most recent FIFA rankings, which were revealed yesterday, as Nigeria was not participating in anything, including the recently finished FIFA World Cup championships in Qatar.
Nigeria fell from number 32 in October to position 35 today, while Morocco, one of Africa’s five representatives at the world championship in Qatar, is currently the best team in the continent. The Atlas Lions dethroned Senegal, who had been in first place in Africa for more than three years.
Morocco, which had a fairytale run at Qatar 2022, rose from 22nd to 11th place.
But Nigeria’s rating was not boosted by the most recent international friendlies against Portugal or the fact that she was disqualified from the FIFA tournament in Qatar. In their final pre-tournament game against Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal, they were defeated 4-0.
Morocco created history in Qatar by being the first African nation to compete in a World Cup semifinal, losing only to France and Croatia.
Senegal (19th), Tunisia (30th), Cameroon (33rd), and Nigeria are below Morocco in the rankings (35th).
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Brazil, who is still in first place, is a quarterfinalist in Qatar 2022. Argentina, led by Lionel Messi, which won the title on Sunday in Qatar, moves up one spot, along with second-placed France, who are now third, and fourth-placed Belgium.
The FIFA new ranking rule would have altered if any of the two sides had won the game in 90 minutes as required by FIFA standards, which is how the final from last weekend was decided.
Third-placed Croatia rose from 12th to seventh, and fourth-placed Morocco is now the highest-placed African country at 11th.
The top 10 teams are completed by Spain (ranked ninth), Portugal (eighth), Italy, England (fifth), the Netherlands (sixth), and Italy.
The top-ranked Asian team is Japan’s Samurai Blue, who are currently in 20th place, ahead of Iran (24th), South Korea (25th), Australia (27th), Saudi Arabia (49th), and Qatar (60th).
In February 2023, the next ranking will be released.