Super Eagles climb six places in FIFA’s latest rankings

Super Eagles’ recent victories over Mali and Luxembourg have seen Nigeria moving up six places in the latest FIFA rankings.Nigeria defeated Mali 1-0 in France last week Friday and also beat Luxembourg 3-1 on Wednesday in that European country.

In its latest ranking released yesterday, FIFA placed Nigeria on the 61st spot, up from its former 67th position in the world ladder.The three-time African champions also moved to 12th position in the continent. The latest rankings, however, is not enough to give Nigeria a vantage position when the draws for the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifiers is made.

Only the first five African countries will be seeded when the draws are made in Cairo, Egypt, on June 24.Algeria are still the the highest ranked team in Africa, followed by Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Senegal, Egypt, Tunisia, Cape Verde, Congo DR, Guinea, Cameroun and Congo.

Argentina leads the world’s best teams, followed by Belgium, Colombia, Germany, Chile, Spain, Brazil, Portugal, Uruguay.The highest movers in the latest rankings are Slovakia and Madagascar.Slovakia moved eight positions to 24, while Madagascar climbed 29 positions into 108.The recent 45 international friendlies played across the world were included in calculating the latest rankings along with four 2018 Fifa World Cup qualification matches for the OFC region.The next Fifa world rankings will be published on July 14, 2016.