By Amosu Adeboye, LAGOS
The Super Eagles have been rewarded for their good form in the last one month with a big leap in the FIFA rankings.
The Nigerian team reached the semi-finals of the Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt and won their eighth bronze medal in the competition’s history in July.
The three-time African champions went into the 2019 AFCON as the 45th best team in the world. They are now 33rd, according to the latest world ranking released by FIFA on Thursday morning.
Nigeria did not only climb an impressive 12 places, they gained 48 points, up 1481 from their previous 1433.The Super Eagles played eight matches during the period under review, joint-most along with Algeria and Senegal. Nigeria won five of the seven matches they played at the 2019 AFCON.
Nigeria are now No.3 in Africa behind top team Senegal (20th in the world, up two spots) and Tunisia (29th in the world, down four spots).
African champions Algeria, who defeated Nigeria in the semi-finals, made the biggest moves both by places and points in the global ranking, going up from 68th to 40th and gaining 117 points.
Belgium remain world No.1, while Brazil climbed from third to second following their Copa America triumph. France, England and Uruguay make up the rest of the top five.
The next FIFA world ranking will be published on 19 September, 2019.
