The Super Eagles of Nigeria have dropped from 48th to 49th in the latest FIFA Ranking released after the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
The Nigeria national team dropped by one place in the FIFA rankings released just before the start of the World Cup and continued in the same trend in the last released by the World football governing body on Thursday, August 16.
The Super Eagles drop can be traced to their poor performance at the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.
The Super Eagles lost their first group game 2-0 to Croatia, then won their second group game against Iceland 2-0 thanks to heroics from Ahmed Musa.
In their last group game against Argentina the Super Eagles narrowly lost 2-1 to a Lionel Messi inspired Argentina as they could not match their achievements of the 2014 FIFA World Cup where they progressed to the round of 16.
The Super Eagles could not also win their two friendly matches in the month of July which ended in a 2-1 loss to England and 1-0 loss to the Czech Republic.
The latest rankings released by FIFA also shows that the Super Eagles are now 49th in the World and 7th on the African continent.
World Ranking
Les Bleus head up the list published by world football’s governing body, which features a new method of grading international teams.
The new formula, per FIFA, “relies on adding/subtracting points won or lost for a game to/from the previous point totals rather than averaging game points over a given time period as in the previous version of the Ranking.
“The changes, of which there are several, include the fact that inactive teams now preserve their point totals, with no devaluation of older games.
“Points are dropped, however, from losing or drawing against weaker opposition, with the only exception to this rule matches in knockout rounds of major competitions such as the FIFA World Cup.”
One such team that did not even manage to qualify for the knockout rounds of the tournament in Russia is Germany, who have dropped to 15th in the rankings, falling a staggering 14 places after crashing out of a group containing Mexico, Sweden, who are now ranked above them, and South Korea.
Argentina fall to 11th after flattering to deceive on the grandest stage, with both teams now below England, who reached the semi-finals. Gareth Southgate’s men are now sixth.
The top five consists of France, Belgium, Brazil, beaten finalists Croatia and Uruguay. The Three Lions, Portugal, Switzerland, Spain and Denmark make up the top 10.
Hosts Russia, who sensationally eliminated Spain from the tournament on penalties, rise 21 places to 49th, making them the best mover within the rankings. Mohamed Salah’s Egypt, eliminated in the group stages, fall 20 places to 65th, the largest fall of any team.