Nigeria Still 52nd In FIFA Ranking

Despite forcing Cataluna to a 1-1 draw in an international friendly played in Spain recently, the Super Eagles maintained their 52nd position in the FIFA/CocaCola world ranking released early today.

The Coach Stephen Keshi tinkered side, who are already in South Africa for the 2013 African Cup of Nations, also maintained their ninth place in the African Ranking, where Ivory Coast, Algeria and Mali are the top three teams.

The Eagles defeated Portuguese second division side, Farense 5-0 in another friendly match on Tuesday, after they were forced to a goalles draw by Nations Cup debutants, Cape Verde last week.

There were very few changes to the 2013’s first edition of the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking, with football having come to a halt in many countries during the New Year period. Only 46 matches have been included in the Ranking since December’s instalment, 18 of which took place in 2012, with the remaining 28 played in the first half of January 2013.

There is no movement whatsoever in the top ten, with Spain still holding a comfortable lead over Germany and Argentina.

Further down, two teams are now in their highest-ever position, namely Ecuador, who have reaped the rewards of some outstanding performances in 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil qualifying series, to move up to 12th, and Haiti, who are 38th on the back of their successful qualification for the CONCACAF Gold Cup 2013.

Only two teams – Uzbekistan (56th, up 11) and Cuba (88th, up 12) – have climbed more than ten places since December.

With Libya (47th, up 7) and Panama (46th, up 5) having replaced Tunisia (53rd, down 8) and Egypt(54th, down 13) in the top 50, the regional composition has changed slightly compared to last month, as CONCACAF now has one more team in the top 50 (4 teams) and CAF one less (7 teams). The number of teams from the other confederations remains unchanged (UEFA: 27, CONMEBOL: 9, AFC 3, OFC: 0).  The next FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking will be published on 14 February 2013.