At a time when the three top teams in Africa – Senegal, Morocco, and Tunisia moved up in their ranking, Nigeria’s Super Eagles dropped by a step to be ranked 31 in the June 2002 FIFA Ranking released yesterday by the world football governing body.
Despite recording two wins in their 2023 AFCON qualifiers with a record 10-0 win over Sao Tome and Principe, the coach Jose Peseiro-tutored side still maintained their fourth spot in Africa.
Starting the year as the 32nd rated team in the world in February 2022, the team improved to 30 in March but in the latest rating, the three-time African champion dropped to 31.
Senegal, the top-rated team in Africa rose two steps up the ladder to be ranked 18th while like Senegal, Morocco gained two steps up to be rated 22nd from the 24th they were in March 2022.
It was Tunisia, who usurped Nigeria’s place to be ranked the third-best team in Africa and ranked 30th after moving five steps up the ladder of the world ranking.
Meanwhile, three months after taking the top spot in the FIFA World Ranking from Belgium, Brazil have widened the gap on their nearest pursuer. Argentina displaced France to be ranked 3rd in the world.
Making progress among the Top 10 are Spain (6th , plus 1), the Netherlands (8th , plus 2), and Denmark (10th , plus 1), while Italy (7th , minus 1) and Portugal (9th , minus 1) head in the opposite direction. For their part, Mexico (12th, minus 3) drop out of the Top 10 completely.
A total of 280 international fixtures took place during this period with significant ramifications in the Ranking: of the 211 countries listed in the global standings, 177 experienced movement.
Credit: thenationonlineng.net
