…tasks Super Eagles to rule Africa
Nigeria’s Pillar of Sports, Chief Donatus Agu-Ejidike has expressed delight at Nigeria’s rise in the recently released FIFA Ranking for the month of October.
Nigeria are now ranked the 44th best football nation in the world according to the world football ruling body and Ejidike said the efforts of the Super Eagles at qualifying for next year’s Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) has not gone unnoticed.
Two victories from two games in the month under review saw the Super Eagles move up four places from September’s 48th spot.
Gernot Rohr’s men battled Libya in a 2019 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying doubleheader and they defeated the north Africans 4-0 at home before securing a 3-2 win in
Tunisia.
The victories helped the three-time African champions, Nigeria, to the summit of Group E as they aim to return to the continental showpiece since their triumph in the 2013 edition.
Nigeria are the third best country in Africa after Tunisia and Senegal who are ranked 22nd and 25th in the world respectively.
DR Congo, Morocco, Cameroon, Ghana, Burkina Faso, Egypt and Cote d’Ivoire make up the top 10 African countries.
Reacting to the latest ranking, Ejidike said Nigerian football is on the rise again and charged the Super Eagles to endeavour to rule the continent.
“The latest FIFA ranking for the month of October simply shows that Nigerian football is on the rise as there is more room for improvement.
“I want to use this opportunity to call on Coach Gernot Rohr and his coaching crew never to rest until the country gets back to the top.
“Nigeria belongs to the top as far as football is concerned in the African continent and even at the world level. Remember prior to the USA’94 FIFA World Cup we were ranked 5th in the world; therefore with the quality of young and talented players at the disposal of the coaching crew of the Super Eagles, we can still go back to the top,” Ejidike stated.
Meanwhile, Belgium displaced France at the summit of the global ranking with just one point while Brazil, Croatia and England complete the top five spots.
Last month, Belgium joined France in becoming the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking’s first-ever joint leaders. Now the Red Devils are in sole possession of top spot, albeit by the narrowest possible margin – 1733 Ranking points to Les Bleus’ 1732.
The top two remain out in front after a month in which each of them enjoyed a win and a draw, with Belgium and France beating Switzerland (8th, unchanged) and Germany (14th, down two) respectively in the UEFA Nations League and emerging with honours even from matches against the Netherlands (15th, up 2) and Iceland (36th, unchanged).
The Dutch rose on the back of a fine 3-0 Nations League win over their struggling German rivals, and other sides also profited from their success in the same competition. England (5th, up 1), for example, swapped places with Uruguay (6th, down 1) after winning 3-2 away to Spain (9th, unchanged), while Norway (48th, up 4) moved into the top 50 after back-to-back victories and Russia (41st, up 5) maintained recent momentum by staying top of Group 2.
Gibraltar (190th, up 8), though, were undoubtedly October’s biggest Nations League success story, and their first-ever competitive wins against Armenia (101, down 1) and Lichtenstein (182, down 4) are reflected in a record Ranking position – and this month’s biggest rise.
The Gibraltarians are one of just six teams to have ascended more than five places, and the only team in Europe to have done so. The others all hail from Africa, where Egypt (58, up 6), Madagascar (100, up 6), Namibia (109, up 7), Zimbabwe (110, up 7) and Burundi (142, up 6) made significant gains on the back of strong results in CAF Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.
