4th July, 2012
Nigeria has moved two places up in the latest ranking of footballing nations released by FIFA today.
It is now in the 58th position, two notches higher than its 60th position at the last ranking in June.
In Africa, Nigeria is now ranked 10th, nine places behind Ivory Coast that retains the number one spot.
In the world ranking, Spain, last Sunday’s European champion is the number one footballing nation, followed by Germany, Uruguay, England and Euro 2012 semi-finalist, Portugal. Brazil dropped six places to 11th and is now ranked outside the ten leading nations, four places behind continental rivals Argentina, that remain 7th.
Italy is the 6th footballing nation, while Netherlands is 8th, Croatia 9th and Denmark 10th.
Ivory Coast is the only African nation that featured in the top 20. It is ranked 16th. Ghana follows far behind at 33rd, Algeria 35th, Libya 39th, Mali 40th and Africa Cup of Nations winner, Zambia is ranked 41st, just one step ahead of Egypt(42nd), which will be missing the next African Cup of Nations tournament in South Africa next year, having been knocked out by Central African Republic.
Below is the Monthly Africa football rankings released Wednesday by FIFA (Africa ranking, world ranking):
Ivory Coast 1 16
Ghana 2 33
Algeria 3 35
Libya 4 39
Mali 5 40
Zambia 6 41
Egypt 7 42
Tunisia 8 43
Gabon 9 45
Nigeria 10 58
Cameroon 11 59
Senegal 12 61
Sierra Leone 13 65
South Africa 14 68
Morocco 15 71
Central African Republic 16 73
Guinea 17 75
Benin 18 78
Cape Verde Islands 19 79
Uganda 20 85
Angola 21 86
Burkina Faso 22 87
Congo Brazzaville 23 91
Malawi 24 93
Togo 25 98
Zimbabwe 26 100
Sudan 27 105
Mozambique 28 107
Equatorial Guinea 29 111
Botswana 30 113
Democratic Republic of Congo 31 114
Niger 32 114
Namibia 33 117
Ethiopia 34 119
Liberia 35 120
Chad 36 123
Kenya 37 125
Rwanda 38 125
Tanzania 39 127
Gambia 40 128
Sao Tome e Principe 41 132
Burundi 42 136
Lesotho 43 166
Madagascar 44 167
Guinea-Bissau 45 169
Swaziland 46 182
Comoros Islands 47 185
Seychelles 48 187
Eritrea 49 189
Somalia 50 191
Mauritius 51 193
Djibouti 52 196
Mauritania 53 202
Next rankings: Aug 8