7th March, 2012
Nigeria’s free fall on the Federation of International Football Association, FIFA, world ranking continued this month, as the Stephen Keshi-led Super Eagles are ranked 57th against 56th position last month.
World and European champions, Spain, still maintained their position as the number one football playing nation in the world, while The Netherlands, who were runners-up at the last World Cup in South Africa toppled last month’s second ranked nation, Germany, to the third place position on the list released from FIFA Headquarters in Zurich early today.
On the African continent, there are no changes in the top two as the 2013 African Cup of Nations runners-up, Côte d’Ivoire and the fourth placed team, Ghana still remained at their 15th and 23rd positions respectively. Algeria, the third ranked country from Africa, moved down four steps to occupy the 36th position from the 32th they occupied last month.
Other African nations like Mali, Gabon and Libya were all ranked above Nigeria on the 25th, 46th and 53rd positions respectively after their Nations Cup impressive performances that saw them move up over twenty-five places on the FIFA ranking.
—Bamidele Olowosagba