Nigeria Now 41st In The World, 7th In Africa

Nigeria climbed one place up in the latest FIFA ranking released on Thursday morning by the Federation of International Football Federation (FIFA).
The Super Eagles, dethroned as African champions this year, were ranked 42nd in February but having garnered 701 points following their previous 664 point so ensured a slight improvement in the ratings of the FIFA memeber nations.
Nigeria, still without a substantive coach, albeit Stephen Keshi is expected to be offered a new deal by the Nigeria Football Federation, is ranked as the 7th best national team in Africa behind Algeria, Cote d’ Ivoire, Ghana, Tunisia, Senegal and Cape Verde. Guinea, Congo DR and Cameroon make up the Top 10 teams on the African continent.
Equatorial Guinea, Mali, Congo, Gabon, South Africa, Egypt, Zambia, Rwanda, Burkina Faso and Uganda are the 11 to 20th best sides in Africa in that order.
The biggest climbers of the month are Barbados (131st) and Bermuda (169th), both of whom have risen by 11 places by virtue of a win and a draw each in their friendlies in the Carribeans.
With Northern Ireland (43rd, up 8) back in the top 50 and Congo dropping three places down to 52nd, the composition of the top 50 has changed slightly in favour of UEFA, which is currently represented by 29 teams, followed by CAF (11), CONMEBOL (6), CONCACAF (3) and the AFC (1), while the OFC has none.
Israel had the biggest move by points garnered as they rose by 75 points, while Lebanon had the biggest drop by points and ranks with 90 points and 11 ranks respectively.
The best-ranked teams by confederation are Germany (1st), Argentina (2nd), Costa Rica (13th), Algeria (18th), Iran (42nd) and New Zealand (134th).
Germany, Argentina, Colombia, Belgium, Holland, Brazil, Portugal, France, Uruguay and Italy make up the world’s Top 10 best teams. Former world champions, Spain, drop to the 11th position in the world.
The next FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking will be published on 9 April 2015.
Nigeria are expected to play Bolivia and South Africa in two international friendlies in March 2015.