Nigeria dropped by six places in the February rankings of the Federation of International Football Associations to place 47th in the world. The country was ranked 41st with 710 points when the January edition of the monthly FIFA ranking was released.
Nigeria slipped in spite of the country’s third-place finish at the African Nations Championship which held from Jan. 11 to Feb. 1 in South Africa.
In the table on the world football governing body Nigeria dropped from 41st in the world, with 616 points.
FIFA had said after the January rankings that results from the 2014 CHAN would be taken into consideration in the February rankings. But Ghana and Libya dropped down also despite the fact they reached the final of CHAN.
Nigeria now occupies the eighth position in Africa as against its January position of seventh. Nigeria is currently placed behind Cote d’Ivoire, Algeria, Cape Verde Island, Ghana, Egypt, Tunisia and Cameroon, according to the rankings. Cote d’Ivoire, which leads the African countries with 841 points, is rated 23rd in the world, while Algeria, second in Africa with 819 points, is 26th in the world.
The biggest movers in Africa were Cape Verde, who climbed eight spots to 27 overall and to third in Africa. The Islanders garnered 799 points to be third in Africa, Ghana, 799 points; Egypt, 733 points; Tunisia, 656 points; and Cameroon, 626 points. Libya, the 2014 CHAN champions, dropped by six spots to be 14th in Africa and 68th in the world. Ghana, runners-up to Libya in CHAN, dropped by 13 spots to become 37th in the world and fourth in Africa.
However Zimbabwe, which was the fourth-placed team in CHAN, climbed by five spots in the rankings to become the 27th in Africa and 100th football nation in the world.
On the global stage, Spain, Germany and Argentina retained first, second and third positions respectively.
Brazil went up by one spot to become the ninth football nation, while The Netherlands are 10th in the rankings.
According to FIFA, 42 international matches were taken into account for the February rankings, 40 of which were friendly matches.