Nigeria Content Online

The
Super Eagles dropped eight places in the latest FIFA ranking released
yesterday. The Eagles, who were ranked 32nd last month, now occupy the
40th position.

At this time last
year, the Eagles were ranked 15th in the world, but a poor outing at
the World Cup followed with other dismal performances has seen the team
lose ground. The fall is also due to Nigeria’s inability to play
quality friendly matches when it is not engaged international
competitions. The Super Eagles are usually idle at periods when other
national teams are busy playing friendly matches.

Despite the dip in fortune, the team is still ranked 4th in Africa, behind Egypt, Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana.

Missing out

According to FIFA,
one of the yard sticks adopted in ranking teams is the outcome of games
from friendly matches at periods when international competitions are
not on the football calendar.

Only recently, a
proposed friendly match with Guatemala billed for February 9 in the
United States of America was put on hold as organisers failed to seal
an agreement with their opponent. The football federation has however
announced that the Eagles will take on fellow West Africans Sierra
Leone on the same date in Lagos.

African Ranking

While the Super
Eagles will be ruing their fall, current African champions, Egypt were
the worst hit in the February ranking. They fell from their previous
enviable 10th position to the 33rd spot in the world. The Pharaohs
consequently lost out on the continent’s top spot; a position they had
consistently held for the past twelve months.

According to FIFA,
Egypt’s slump, which puts the North African country in 3rd place on the
African ranking, was due to the significant devaluation of the points
won a year ago at the CAF Africa Cup of Nations in Angola.

The Black Stars of
Ghana are now the highest ranked African team; they occupy the 15th
spot in the world, followed by Côte d’Ivoire who are eleven places
behind in the 26th spot on the world ranking.

Asian on the rise

There were no
changes at the summit of the global ladder with the top nine teams
maintaining their positions, but Japan (17th, up 12 places), who became
Asian champions for a fourth time in Doha, have re-entered the top 20
after being absent for almost five years.

The Samurai Blue
are now the highest-ranked Asian team as well as being the third team –
after hosts Brazil and world champions Spain – to qualify for the FIFA
Confederations Cup in 2013.

The just concluded AFC Asian Cup Qatar 2011 had a significant impact on the latest edition of the ranking.

Qatar 2011 finalists Australia (21st, up 5 places), as well as
semi-finalists Korea Republic (32nd, up 7 spots) and this month’s
highest climbers Uzbekistan (77th, up 31 places), rose in the ranking.
Other Asian teams on the rise include Iran (44th, up 21 places), Jordan
(84th, up 23 places), Iraq (88th, up 10 places) and Qatar (90th, up 15
places).