Nigeria dropped two steps in the FIFA world rankings released yesterday. Despite pulling a draw and a win against Botswana and Zambia respectively in the last quarter of 2011, the Eagles moved from the the 43rd position down to the 45th place, a position shared with Armenia.
With coach Stephen Keshi working hard to return the national team to winning ways, it remains to be seen how the Eagles will return to the world top ten, a division they were in when Keshi was captain.
But at the moment it is Cote’d Ivoire and Ghana that are enjoying favovrable ratings on the world list. Though Cote ‘d Ivoire dropped two places from the 16th to 18, they still remained the top team in Africa with Ghana moving three places up to the 26th position taking the number two position in Africa.
Cote ‘d Ivoire and Ghana are favourates for the Africa Cup of Nations, which begins this weekend in Equatorial Guinea and Gabon.
Algeria, Egypt, Senegal make up the top five in Africa, with Nigeria berthing at 6th place in the continent.
World and European champion Spain stayed atop FIFA’s mainly unchanged rankings on Wednesday.
The top 10 places remained the same after just 11 international matches were played last month.
The Netherlands was second, ahead of Germany, South American champion Uruguay and England. Brazil, Portugal, Croatia, Italy and Argentina completed the elite places.
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