The world’s top football governing body, the Federation of International Football Association (FIFA) released its latest ranking for the men’s national teams on Thursday, 21 September via its official website, with the Super Eagles of Nigeria now dropping to 40th place in the world.
Despite a comfortable 6-0 dismantling of the Parrots of Sao Tome and Principe in their final group stage game of the 2023 AFCON qualifying series at the Godswill Akpabio Stadium in Uyo, Akwa Ibom, the Super Eagles’ drop in ranking comes with a shocking surprise to many Nigerians, perhaps, to an extent.
The team that recently showed class in their seamless qualification rounds to book a ticket for next year’s African Cup of Nations tournament in Ivory Coast are now sixth among countries under the Confederation of Africa Football (CAF).
The 2013 Africa Cup of Nations champions were previously ranked 39th globally but now dropped, which means that the Super Eagles of Nigeria are now behind the Atlas Lions of Morocco, the Teranga Lions of Senegal, the Carthage Eagles of Tunisia, the Desert Foxes of Algeria and the Pharaohs of Egypt.