Nigeria Moves Up In FIFA Rankings

Nigeria made a surprise leap up the FIFA ladder on Wednesday when the football governing body released its rankings for April.

Although the country has not played any senior men‘s match since the dismal outing at Ghana 2008 in February, it still moved up seven places on the global rankings.

The team is now ranked 39th, up from its previous 46th position. It also added 41 points to its points haul to take it to 659.

Nigeria, however, remains the fifth ranked team in Africa, still trailing Ghana, Cameroun, Cote d‘Ivoire and Egypt.

The country‘s surge up the rankings despite not being active is as a result of losses suffered by countries just ahead of it, which caused these countries to slide.

Ghana, which won bronze on home soil at the Africa Cup of Nations and lost a friendly to Mexico during the period under review, is the top-ranked team in Africa and 14th in the world. It moved up one place and added three points to take its haul to 1006.

Camroun, runner-up at the Nations Cup, is second in Africa and 22nd in the world. The Central African country did not change its position but added 29 points to gross 996.

Nations Cup semifinalist Cote d‘Ivoire is third on the continent but 22nd in the world. Although the West African side lost 18 points, it gained one place. It is on 868 points.

African champion Egypt is fourth in Africa and 30th in the world with 822 points, three points less than it previously had.

The top seven places remain unchanged with South American powerhouses, Argentina and Brazil, keeping the top two places. World champion Italy, Spain, Germany, Czech Republic and France follow in that order.

NP/MICHAEL